CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION IN COMMUNIST CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 32
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 1, 1961
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
SECRET
N? 56
Economic Intelligence Report
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION
IN COMMUNIST CHINA
CIA/RR ER 61-12
March 1961
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
SECRET
Economic Intelligence Report
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION
IN COMMUNIST CHINA
CIA/RR ER 61-12
WARNING
This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
FOREWORD
The purpose of this report is to present the major developments
of the educational system in Communist China during 1949-60, pri-
marily as background for an assessment of probable trends in the
future supply of skilled manpower. The report assembles data on
trends in enrollments and graduations during 1949-60 by type of
school, discusses the provisions of the current educational reform,
and evaluates its potential effects on the size and skill of the
labor force and on productivity.
S-E-C-R-E-T
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
CONTENTS
Summary
I.
Present Educational System
Page
1
3
3
A. Description of the System
1. Structure
3
2. Administration
8
3. Government Policies Toward Education
4
B. Influence of the USSR
6
C. Trends in Enrollment and Graduations ? ? ? ? ?
?
?
7
1. Primary and Secondary Schools
9
2. Colleges
12
3. Spare-Time Schools and Schools for Illiter-
ates
14
D. Allocation of Resources to Education . . .....
16
1. Expenditures
16
2. Teachers
18
3. Physical Facilities
19
II.
Current Reform ?? ?
?
?
20
A. Provisions
20
B. Objectives
21
C. Comparison with the USSR
21
D. Economic Significance
22
1. For the Size of the Labor Force
22
2. For Skill and Productivity Levels
23
Appendix
- v -
S-E-C-R-E-T
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Tables
Page
1. Enrollment in Regular and Spare-Time Schools in Com-
munist Chinal_ by Type of School, 1949/50 School
Year - 1959/60 School Year 8
2. Enrollment in Regular Schools in Communist China, by
Type of School and Sex, Selected School Years,
1949/50 - 1959/60 10
3. Annual Number of Graduates from Schools in Communist
China, by Type of School, 1950-60 11
4. Engineering Students as a Proportion of Regular College
Enrollments and Graduations in Communist China,
1949/50 School Year - 1959/60 School Year 13
5. Annual Number of College Graduates in Communist China,
by Field of Study, 1950-60 15
6. Budgeted Expenditures on Education and Training in
Communist China, 1950-59 and Planned for 1960 . . . . 17
Chart
Communist China: Educational System Before the Reorgani-
zation Beginning in 1960 following page 4
- vi -
?S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION IN COMMUNIST CHINA*
Summery
A major reorganization of the educational system in Communist China
was announced by the Minister of Education, Yang Hsiu-feng, in April
1960. This reorganization -- to be completed within the next 10 to
20 years -- continues reforms started in 1958. The most significant
changes are the planned reduction of the period of full-time primary
and middle school education from 12 to 10 years and the possible
lowering of the school-entry age from 7 to 6. Although a final de-
cision on the form of the new 10-year schools apparently has not been
made and experiments are continuing, educational spokesmen now seem
to favor a unified school without primary and secondary divisions.
The new school will be expected to graduate students with a level of
accomplishment equal to that of present college freshmen. This com-
pression of 13 years of study into 10 years is to be accomplished
primarily through a reform of the curriculum, which is to emphasize
languages, mathematics, and science. Finally, "productive labor" is
to be an obligatory and more important part of the school program at
all levels.
Communist China has made spectacular progress in education during
the past decade. Illiteracy among young adults has been greatly re-
duced, primary education has become nearly universal, enrollment in
secondary schools and colleges has expanded rapidly, and programs for
spare-time education and on-the-job training have developed widely.
Enrollment in regular primary schools increased from 24 million in
the 1949/50 school year to 90 million in the 1959/60 school year, and
the regime now claims that 87 percent of all children of primary school
age are in school. During the same period, enrollment in secondary
schools rose from 1.3 million to nearly 13 million, and college enroll-
ment rose from a mere 118,000 to 810,000. Enrollment in all kinds of
spare-time schools increased from about 1.6 million in the 1952/53
school year to a startling 48 million 7 years later. Except for col-
leges, the enrollment levels achieved in the 1959/60 school year ful-
fill the goals originally set for 1962 in the Second Five Year Plan
(1958-62).
Although Chinese Communist educational statistics are believed to
be generally reliable, particularly those pertaining to the regular
* The estimates and conclusions in this report represent the best
judgment of this Office as of 1 February 1961.
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
schools, the quality of education that is reflected in these statistics
probably was far from uniform throughout the period. The quality of
education must have suffered severely during the "leap forward" program
for example, when students at all levels were taken out of schools to
man backyard furnaces and to work on irrigation and other such mass
projects -- and the sharp spurts in enrollment in the 1951/52, 1956/57,
and 1958/59 school years surely must have strained school facilities to
the utmost and resulted in a deterioration of educational standards.
The massive effort of the regime in the field of education is indi-
cated by the rapid increase of government expenditures on "education
and cadre training." These expenditures rose from 492 million yuan*
in 1950 to 3,338 million yuan in 1959 and, according to the planned
budget, were to be 5,114 million yuan in 1960. In spite of the rapid
expansion of government expenditures on education, trained teachers
and school buildings and equipment have remained chronically in short
supply. These shortages clearly must have adversely affected the
quality of education.
The motivation for the current changes in the educational system
in Communist China appears to be primarily economic. The reforms are
designed to improve the capabilities of China's future labor force to
meet the anticipated needs of the economy by giving students more work
experience in school and by raising the level of education. In addi-
tion, the reform is intended to reduce the real costs of education by
shortening the period of schooling, thus bringing secondary school
graduates into the labor force at an earlier age.
The timing of the reform reflects the imperative need for rapidly
increasing the supply of skilled manpower in support of Communist
China's ambitious program for industrial development. The reform is
not expected to affect the size of the labor force significantly dur-
ing the next several years, however, because the number of senior sec-
ondary students who would be directly affected is small, only about
1 million, and because the reform is to be carried out gradually over
a period of 10 to 20 years. The reorganization of the educational
system probably will have a favorable long-run effect on the skill of
the labor force and on productivity. If the reform achieves the
stated objectives, young people will enter the labor force from the
10-year schools with the educational equivalent of a first-year college
student and also with some work experience. Thus, not orgy will the
average new worker bring work experience and more education to his job
but also he will require less training on the job and will become
fully productive more quickly.
* Yuan values throughout this report are given in current yuan. In
trade with non-Communist countries, 2.46 yuan equal US $1.
- 2 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
I. Present Educational System
A. Description of the System
1. Structure
Under the Communist regime in China the primary function
of the educational system has been to give the new generation the
knowledge and skills required of potential workers in an economy
undergoing rapid industrialization. Although radical changes have
been made in the subject matter and content Of courses, the organi-
zation of the school system is still about the same as it was under
the Nationalist regime. Formal education, which is not legally com-
pulsory, normally begins at 7 years of age. In general, the formal,
full-time school program includes 6 years of primary education,
6 years of secondary education,* and 4 to 5 years of higher education**
(see the accompanying chartxxx). Primary schools are divided into a
lower section of 4 years and a higher section of 2 years. Middle
schools have junior and senior divisions of 3 years each. Of the two
types of secondary vocational schools -- technical schools and normal
schools -- the former train intermediate-level technicians and require
approximately 3- years beyond the junior middleschool, and the latter
train primary school teachers and have junior and senior divisions of
3 years each. Finally, agricultural schools, which were first estab-
lished in 1958, also have junior and senior divisions, each requiring
approximately 3 years. In addition to this formal system of full-
time education, Mina now has an extensive program of spare-time
schooling and on-the-job training.
2. Administration
The administration of education in Communist China is
highly centralized. Over-all administrative control rests primarily
in the Ministry of Education,t whose activities are directed by the
* The terminology used to describe Chinese schools is often con-
fusing because Of the variety of English equivalents used in trans-
lations. In this report the term secondary education includes three
kinds of schools -- middle schools, secondary vocational schools, and
agricultural schools.
** In this report the term higher education includes colleges,
universities, and specialized institutes. The term college is used
synonymously with higher education.
*** Following p. 4.
t The Ministry of Higher Education, established in 1952, and the
Ministry of Education were combined into one Ministry of Education in
February 1958.
-3
S-E-C-R-E-T
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Culture and Education Staff Office of the State Council. Within the
framework of general policies laid down by the Communist Party and the
State Council, the central ministry sets enrollment quotas for the
various levels of education, plans the number of students to be as-
signed to each field of study, particularly at the college level, and
determines the work assignments of college graduates. The Ministry of
Education also develops standard curricula for the various school
levels.
Until 1954, education in each major geographic region of
Communist China was administered by a regional department of educa-
tion, which supervised educational activities in several provinces.
Since the abolition of the regional administrations in mid-1954, the
local administration of education has been carried out by (a) provin-
cial departments of education that have jurisdiction over most second-
ary schools in the province and (b) hsien (county) bureaus of educa-
tion that supervise the primary schools in each hsien. These depart-
ments and bureaus are directly subordinate to the local provincial
and hsien governments but receive planning and policy direction from
the Ministry of Education. An official policy of decentralizing con-
trol over primary schools, secondary schools, and most institutions
of higher education was announced in a directive issued by the Party
Central Committee and the State Council on 29 September 1958. 2/ The
nature and significance of the planned decentralization are not yet
clear.
3. Government Policies Toward Education
Communist China has consistently stressed the critical im-
portance to economic development of rapid expansion of education and
training of the population. The vigor with which this objective has
been pursued, however, has not been uniform, and at times the regime
has been willing to sacrifice immediate progress in education in order
to meet short-term economic needs. During 1949-53 the regime was
chiefly preoccupied with the quantitative expansion of educational
facilities and enrollment, the primary objective of this phase of the
drive for mass education being to increase the number of skilled
workers for industry as quickly as possible. To this end, the regime
established numerous short-term training courses for training semi-
skilled workers and attempted to shorten the period of general school-
ing. In October 1951, primary schools were shifted from a 6-year
system to a 5-year system, but this action was reversed in late 1953,
probably because the change lowered the quality of middle school
candidates.
From the latter part of 1953 to the latter part of 1955,
government policy encouraged primary and junior middle school gradu-
ates to go to work rather than to continue in schoo1.3/ As a
- 4 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
. `":1?
Age
22-
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
29809 3-61
ct
x
COMMUNIST CHINA
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM BEFORE THE
REORGANIZATION BEGINNING IN 1960
RESEARCH INSTITUTES
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
,
UNIVERSITIES
AND
COLLEGES
MIDDLE
TECHNICAL
NORMAL
ENIOR
AGRICULTURAL
MIDDLE
JUNI
NORMAL
OR
AGRICULTURAL
,
HIGHER
LOWER
Years
of School
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
consequence, the colleges found it increasingly difficult to meet
planned admission quotas, and graduates of urban primary and junior
middle schools began to have trouble Obtaining suitable jobs. 4/
By late 1955 the regime apparently became convinced that
additional resources must be allocated to education and that more
emphasis must be placed on raising its quality. Economic planners
began to realize that graduates of primary and secondary schools were
more valuable as potential engineers and scientists than as immediate
increments to the labor force, particularly because the industrial
labor force was already oversupplied with unskilled urban workers.
In 1956 the government reversed its previous policy of discouraging
school graduates from further education, abandoned its experimenta-
tion with accelerated courses, and launched a campaign to raise
educational standards. 5/ One immediate action was the lengthening
of courses of study in colleges and secondary' technical schools.*
As a result of these policies) enrollment in all educa-
tional institutions increased sharply in 1956. By the spring of 1957,
however, it became clear that the expanded educational program was
overtaxing the capacity of both the teaching staff and the school
facilities, and a retrenchment began. College admissions were cut
back from 163,000 in the 1956/57 school year to 107,000 in the 1957/58
school year. 3/ Mbst middle school graduates were again discouraged
from seeking admission to colleges, and the program of foreign study
was cut back.**
Under the momentum of the "leap forward" in 1958, however,
school enrollment at all levels again expanded sharply, and educa-
tional policy was again revised. A directive on education issued by
the Party Central Committee and the State Council' on 29 September laid
down the following policies:
A. Decentralization of control Over education by placing
schools under the direction Of local authorities (including communes,
factories, and mines), with the Ministry of Education retaining a
guiding and coordinating function;.
1) Increased Party surveillance over the execution of
educational plans and policies, with more emphasis on political in-
doctrination at all school levels;
* Colleges lengthened most undergraduate courses from 4 to 5 years,
particularly in the industrial fields, and secondary industrial
technical schools extended their courses from 3 to.4 years. 6/
4
** See I, B, p. 6, below.
-5-
S.,E7C-R7E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
c. Productive labor to be an integral part of formal edu-
cation, schools being required to establish their own factories and 4
farms and factories and agricultural cooperatives being directed to
build their own schools;
d. Expansion of spare-time classes and mutual instruction;
e. Inauguration of experiments directed toward the
eventual reorganization of the entire system of primary and secondary
education.
The government evidently considers reasonably satisfactory
progress to have been made in the past 2 years along the lines laid
down in the directive. Experiments in restructuring the school system,
in modifying the curricula for primary and middle schools, and in im-
proving teaching methods* have been carried out. These experiments
are a prelude to a more vigorous reform to be carried out over the
next decade.**
B. Influence of the USSR
The USSR has had an important influence on the educational
system of Communist China. Although China has not copied the Soviet
school system, various changes in Chinese education have been in-
fluenced heavily by the example of the USSR. With respect to the
formal, full-time school, Soviet influence is reflected mainly in the
curricula and content of courses rather than in the kinds of schools
and the length of courses. The spare-time schools and the schools and
courses for workers established in factories, however, closely resemble
their Soviet counterparts in all important ways.
In addition to providing an example of supplying educational
materials, the USSR has sent .educational technicians to Communist
China. In the field of higher edUcation alone a total of 4,000 edu-
cational experts was sent to China during 1951-56 -- they taught more
than 700 courses and compiled more than 600 textbooks. .44/ In addi-
tion, Chinese students have been sent tothe USSR for technical train-
ing. Under the First Five Year Plan (1953-57), 10,100 students were
* Some schools experimented with lowering the age at which children
can be admitted to primary school from 7 to 6, with a 5-grade unified
primary school, with a 5-grade unified middle school or a 3-year
junior and a 2-year senior middle school system, and with a 10-year
unified primary and secondary school system. Other schools experi-
mented with teaching simple reading and arithmetic in kindergarten,
languages in first grade, and more advanced mathematics in primary
school.
** See II, A, p. 20, below.
- 6 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
to be sent abroad, 9,400 to the USSR and 700 to the European Satellites,
and it was expected that 9,900 students would be studying abroad by the
end of 1957. 9/ Only 7,099 students were sent abroad during the First
Five Year Plan, however, 10/ and by the end of 1958 only 6,572 students
had been sent to the USSR,* 1,064 of whom had completed their work and
returned to China. 13/ In 1957 the Chinese government decided that
only postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students would be sent
abroad for study. 14/
In 1959, more than 1,300 Chinese students were graduated from
Soviet schools 15/; in 1960, 1,300 students were graduated from schools
in the USSR and other Bloc countries. 16/ Although the number of
Chinese studying in the USSR appears to be declining, an estimated
total of 4,500 Chinese was studying there, mostly in scientific and
technical fields, 17/ before the Sino-Soviet ideological conflict in
the summer of 1960. Since then, some of these students apparently
have withdrawn. 18/
C. Trends in Enrollment and Graduations
Communist China has made spectacular progress in education
during the past decade. Illiteracy among adults has been greatly re-
duced. Primary education has now become almost universal, enrollment
in secondary schools and colleges has risen rapidly, and programs for
spare-time education and on-the-job training have developed widely.
According to official statistics, 152 million persons were enrolled
in regular and spare-time schools in the 1959/60 school year compared
with only 56 million in the 1952/53 school year (see Table 1**). The
goals set in the Second Five Year Plan (1958-62) are to wipe out il-
literacy in the adult population below 40 years of age and to make
primary education universal. During 1963-67 a junior middle school
education is supposed to become universal.
* There is some discrepancy in statements concerning the number of
"Chinese students" who have been sent to the USSR for study. Chien
Chun-jui, Vice-Minister of Culture, states that from 1950 to 1958 China
sent to the USSR for advanced study more than 14,000 students, 8,500
of whom have already completed their studies and returned to China.
In addition, he states that up to the end of 1958 the USSR received
38,063 students from China for field work in Soviet factories and other
enterprises. 11/ In contrast, Yelyutin, Minister of Higher Education
in the USSR, states that only 7,000 students, of whom 1,400 were post-
graduates, were admitted to Soviet higher educational and scientific
establishments during 1950-60. Furthermore, he reports that only
8,000 Chinese were trained in Soviet enterprises. 12/ Yelyutin's
figures are used in this report because of his authoritative position,
because his figures are more current, and because they are more con-
sistent with other data.
** Table 1 follows on p. 8.
- 7 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Table 1
Enrollment in Regular and Spare-Time Schools in Communist China, by Type of School a/
1949/50 School Year - 1959/60 School Year
Thousand Students
Total
Regular
Spare-time
1949/50
1950/51
1951/52
1952/53
1953/54
1954/55
1955/56
1956/57
1957/58
1958/59
1959/60
N.A.
25,777
N.A.
N.A.
30,624
N.A.
N.A.
45,260
N.A.
56,050
57,419
58,718
,a117?
IZA22I
69,849
8,058
81,424
128,200
151,780
54,421
1,629
55,481
1,938
55,671
3,047
57,856
5,916
71,779
9,645
97,050
31,150
103,710
48,070
College
118
138
2J/
199
226
Ell
3091212_
211
810
1 180
Regular
118
138
155
195
216
258
293
408
441 I,/
6601/
810 s/
Graduate
1 1/
1 d/
2 d/
414/
4 (3./
5 fi
5 Si
5E/
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
Undergraduate
117
137
153
191
212
253
288
403
441
660
N.A.
Spare-time
Negl.
Negl.
2
4
10
13
16
64
76
150
370 h/
Secondary
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
3,376
4 oo6
5 141
5,799
8,776
10,361
14;990 A/
22,600 I/
Regular
1,268
1,562
1,951
3,126
3,601
4,195
4,437
5,977
7,059
9,990
12,900 c/
Middle
1,039
1,305
1,568
2,490
2,933
3,587
3,900
5,165
6,281
8,520
N.A.
Vocational
229
257
383
636
668
608
537
812
778
1,470
N.A.
Spare-time
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
250
405
946
1,362
2,799
3,302
5,00o/
9,700 c/
Middle
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
249
404
760
1,167
2,236
2,714
5,000
N.A.
Vocational
Negl.
Negl.
Negl.
1
1
186
195
563
588
N.A.
N.A.
Primary
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
52,475
53,306
57,664
68,659
70,546
112,400
128,000
Regular
24,391
28,924
43,154
51,100
.53,187
51,664
51,218
53,126
63,464
64,279
86,400
9o,000 s/
Spare-time
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
1,375
1,523
2,088
4,538
5,195
6,267
26,000
38,000 c/
b. Excluding graduate students.
c. 20/
d. 21/
f. 23/
W
h. 25/
i. Excluding agricultural middle school enrollment.
j. Excluding spare-time vocational students.
- 8 -
S-E- C-R- T
. . 4
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26 : CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
?
?
S-E-C-R-E-T
Chinese Communist educational statistics are believed to be
generally reliable, particularly those relating to regular schools.
The data on enrollment in spare-time schools could be exaggerated, and
the kind of schools, courses, and students to which these data pertain
is far from clear.
The quality of education that is reflected in the official sta-
tistics on school enrollments and graduations probably was not uniform
throughout the period. For example, the quality of education must
have suffered greatly during the 1958/59 school year, when students at
all levels were taken out of schools to man backyard furnaces and to
work on irrigation and similar mass projects. Furthermore, the phe-
nomenal increase in enrollment during 1958-60 surely must have strained
school facilities to the utmost and resulted in a deterioration of
educational standards.
1. Primary and Secondary Schools
As shown in Table 1, regular enrollment in the primary
schools of Communist China increased from 24 million in the 1949/50
school year to 90 million in the 1959/60 school year, or about 3 times
The number for the 1959/60 school year -- nearly nine-tenths of all
children 7 to 12 years of age* -- fulfills the goal for 1962 set in
the Second Five Year Plan. More than three-fifths of the full-time
primary students in the 1958/59 school year were boys (see Table 2**).
The Chinese claim that primary schools graduated about 84 million
students during 1958-60 (see Table 3***), and it is estimated that
about 35 million were graduated in 1959-60.
Regular enrollment in all types of secondary schools in-
creased from 1.3 million in the 1949/50 school year to 12.9 million
in the 1959/60 school year, or about 9 times.t The enrollment in the
1959/60 school year -- representing about one-fifth of the population
13 to 18 years of age -- slightly exceeds the goal for 1962 set in the
Second Five Year Plan.tt
* All population data are derived from projections of the official
age distribution given in the 1953 census. 26/
** Table 2 follows on p. 10.
XXX Table 3 follows on p. 11.
t In addition to the secondary school enrollments shown in Table 1,
3 million persons reportedly attended more than 30,000 agricultural
middle schools in 1960. 27/ These schools were established as part of
the "leap forward" in 103, and their number has increased so rapidly
that the quality of training probably is far below that of the regular
secondary schools.
tt Text continued on p. 12.
- 9 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2013/08/26 : CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Table 2
EnrollmPnt in Regular Schools in Communist China, by Type of School and Sex 2/
Selected School Years, 1949/50 - 1959/60
Thousand Students
1949/50
1951/52
1952/53
1957/58
1958/9
1959/60
Total
25,777
45,260
54,421
71,779
97,050
103,710
Male
N.A.
N.A.
36,819
47,359
60,568
N.A.
Female
N. A.
N. A.
17, 602
24,420
36, 482
N. A.
College
118
155
195
441
660
810
Male
95
126
149
338
506
644
Female
23
29 :b!./
46
103
154
166 12/
Secondary
1,268
1,951
3,126
7,059
9,990
12,900
Male
N.A.
1,480
2,382
4,918
6,926
9,596
Female
N.A.
471 12/
744
2,141
3,064
3,304 12/
Primary
24,391
11.3,154
51,100
64,279
86,400
90,000
Ma le
N.A.
N.A.
34,288
42 ,103
53,136
N.A.
Female
N.A.
N.A.
16,812
22,176
33,264
N.A.
a. Enrollment totals are from Table 1, p. 8, above. ,
b. Estimated on the basis of official statements that the total number of women in colleges and second-
ary schools was 500,000 in the 1951/52 school year and 3.47 million in the 1959/60 school year. 29/
-10 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120061-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Table 3
Annual Number of Graduates from Schools in Communist China by Type of School
1950-60
Thousand Graduates
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
Total
3,218
4,592
6,263
10 ,565
10 ,996
11,513
13,463
13,808
17,801
N.A.
N.A.
College
18
19
32
48
47
55
63
56
7o b/
135 b/
Secondary
371
341
289
572
813
1,2011.
1,113
1,11.11.5
.72
1,5011.
N.A.
N.A.
-
Middle
296
284
221
454
644
969
939
1,299
1,313
N.A.
N.A.
Vocational
:75
57
68
118
169
235
174
11.1.6
191
N.A.
N.A.
Primary
_2,829
,41232
5,911.2
9,945
10,136
10,254
1.2.2.281
12,307
16,225
N.A.
N.A.
b. 31/
- 11 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Seven out of every 10 students enrolled in full-time sec-
ondary schools in the 1958/59 school year were boys. According to
official reports, 7.7 million persons were graduated from secondary
schools of all types during 1950-58, and it is estimated that about
3.5 million persons were graduated in 1959-60.
2. Colleges
In response to the critical need to train a native intelli-
gentsia, Communist China has rapidly expanded its facilities for
higher education during the past decade. In the 1959/60 school year,
there were 810,000 full-time college students -- only a little short
of the goal of 850,000 for 1962 set in the Second Five Year Plan, com-
pared with 441,000, excluding graduate students, in the 1957/58
school year and 118,000, including graduate students, in the 1949/50
school year. More than three-fourths of the full-time students in the
1958/59 school year were men, and nearly 37 percent of all full-time
students, the same percentage as in the USSR, were specializing in
engineering fields (see Table ).i.*). Admissions in the 1960/61 school
year are planned at 280,000, an increase of 30,000 above the previous
year. 32/
Although a few thousand "research students" Were given
graduate training of some kind during 1950-55, the first graduate
program leading to an advanced degree was not launched until 1956,
when a 4-year program was begun under the Academy of Sciences in
Peking. 33/ Because of the inadequate preparation of graduates of
Chinese Communist colleges, the Academy of Sciences had to set up its
own University of Science and Technology in 1958, at which candidates
for graduate work are given preparatory training by members of the
academy. 34/
During 1950-60 a total of 615,000 students were graduated
from the colleges of Communist China. Annual graduations increased
fairly steadily from a mere 18,000 in 1950 to 70,000 in 1959. In 1960
the number of graduates rose to 135,000, largely as a result of the
sharp increase in college adMissions 4 years earlier. Some of the
increase in 1960 also may reflect the delayed graduation of students
temporarily taken out of school and assigned to jobs during the "leap
forward" in 1958. The figure for 1960 also may include graduates of
the 2-year technical colleges first established in 1958.
Although the absolute number of college graduates is large
and is increasing, the proportion of college graduates in the total
population of Communist China is still extremely small. In 1949, there
* Table 4 follows on p. 13.
- 12-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Table 4
Engineering Students as a Proportion of Regular College Enrollments and Graduations
in. Communist China
1949/50 School Year - 1959/60 School Year
College students 2/
In engineering
Students
College graduates g
In engineering
Graduates
Unit
of Measure
1949/50
1950/51
1951/52
1952/53
1953/54
1954/55
1955/56
1956/57
1957/58
1958/59
1959/60
Thousand
118
138
155
195
216
258
293
4o8
441
660
810
Thousand
30.3 IV
38.5
12_/
48.512/
66.6
2/
80.1
2/
95.0
2/
109.6
2/
151.0
163.2
244.2
N.A.
Percent
26
28
-
31
?34
37
37
37
37 La../
37 Fj
37 !_?/
N.A.
Thousand
18
19
32
48 .
47
55
63
56
72
70
135
Thousand h/
4.7
4.4
10.2
14.6
15.6
18.6
22.0
17.2
17.5
N.A.
N.A.
Percent
26
23
32
30
33
34
35
31
24
N.A.
N.A.
a. From Table 1, p. 8, above.
b. 4/
c.
d. Assumed to be the same as the 'figure for 1953755 and 1957-58:
e.
37/
g. From Table 3, p. 11, above.
h. 12/
-13-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
probably were only about 3 or 4 college graduates per 10,000 popula-
tion. 4o/ This proportion may now be about 9 per 10,000 compared with
181 per 10,000 for the USSR in 1959 41/ and 469 per 10,000 for the US
in 1959. 42/ China, like the USSR, has given priority in its college
curricula to the training of engineers. As shown in Table 4, 30 per-
cent of the 410,000 students who were graduated during 1950-58 were
engineers. During 1950-57 the colleges graduated more students each
year in engineering than in any other field, but, as shown in Table
5,* in 1958 the number of graduates in education (31,595) far exceeded
the number of graduates in engineering (17,499), a response to the
pressing need for trained teachers to support the greatly expanded
program of secondary education.
3. Spare-Time Schools and Schools for Illiterates
Spare-time education has been expanding rapidly in Com-
munist China, particularly since the 1958/59 school year. The number
of students in all spare-time schools rose steadily from 1.6 million
in the 1952/53 school year to 9.6 million in the 1957/58 school year
and then increased sharply to more than 31 million in the 1958/59
school year and to 48 million in the 1959/60 school year (see Table
1**). The level of enrollment in the 1959/60 school year already ex-
ceeds the goal for 1962 set in the Second Five Year Plan. 43/ Nearly
four-fifths of the total enrollment in spare-time schools is in
primary-level schools. The relative importance of spare-time school-
ing probably will continue to increase because .it reduces the cost of
education by making a maximum use of existing school facilities and
teachers and by permitting the students to acquire an education while
working full time.
Communist China also has waged a major campaign to reduce
illiteracy among young adults. Although about 28 million adults
allegedly became literate during 1949-571*** 46/ there probably were
still at least 150 million rural illiterates in 1958 between 14 and
40 years of age. 47/ The elimination of illiteracy among young adults
is a goal of the Second Five Year Plan, and the pace of the anti-
illiteracy campaign has sharply increased since 1958. The program
has been implemented through special literacy classes, mutual instruc-
tion, and spare-time education. Fantastic claims have been made re-
cently concerning the number of people who have become literate. For
Table 5 follows on p. 15.
-x-x- P. 8, above.
ieHe The regime also claims that about 40 million illiterates became
semiliterate during this period. 44/ Semiliterates can read and write
500 to 1,500 Chinese characters, while literates can read 1,500 or more
characters. 45/
- 14-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Table 5
Annual Number of.College Graduates in Communist China, by Field of Study
1950-60
Number of Graduates
Total b/
Industrial
1950
1951
1952 .
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
18,000
19,200
32,000
48,000
47,000
55,000
63,000
56,000
72,000
70,000
':135)000
department
4,711
4,416
10,-213
14,565
15,596
18,614
22,047
17,162
17,499
N.A.
N.A.
Agricultural
.
department
1,477
1,538
2,361
2,633
3,532
: 2,614
3,541
3,104
3,513
N.A.
N.A.
Finance and
economics,
3,305
3,638
7,263
10)530
6,033
4,699
4,460
3,651
2,349
N.A.
N.A.
Medicine
1,391
2,366
2,636
2,948
4,527
6,840
5,403
6,200
5,393
N.A.
N.A.
Science
1,468
1,488
2,215
1,753
802
2,015
3,978
3,524
4,645.
N.A.
N.A.
Education
624
1,206
3,077
9,650
10;551
12,133
17,243
15,948
31,595
N.A.
N.A.
Literature
2,306
2,169
1,676
3,306
2,683
4,679
4,025
4,294
4,131
N.A.
N.A.
Other c/
2,718
2,179
2,559
2,615
3,276
3,406
2,303
2,117
2,875
N.A.
N.A.
b. From Table 3, p. 11, above.
c. The residual was derived by subtracting the number of college graduates in the specific cate-
gories from a rounded total. This "Other" category, therefore, should not be considered as exact.
-15-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
example, the regime claims that 66 million persons became literate
during the past 2 years 49/ and now alleges also that more than 100
million illiterates have become literate under Communist rule. 50/
Unfortunately for progress, however, many people do not retain their
newly acquired ability to read. The regime itself has admitted that
large numbers of the new literates have slipped back into illiteracy. 51/
D. Allocation of Resources to Education
1. Expenditures
Communist China's drive to train its own managers, engi-
neers, technicians, and skilled workers and to increase literacy among
the population is indicated by the rapid expansion of government ex-
penditures on education and cadre* training. These expenditures have
expanded from 492 million yuan in 1950 to 3,338 million yuan in 1959
and, according to the planned budget, were to rise to 5,114 million
yuan in 1960.** Government expenditures on education and cadre train-
ing in 1959 were equivalent to 2.2 percent of Communist China's gross
national product (GNP) compared with approximately 1 percent of GNP
in 1950. These budget appropriations are disbursed by central, pro-
vincial, and hsien governments to three broad types of educational fa-
cilities: (a) college-levelinstitutions, (b) primary and secondary
schools, and (c) institutions for cadre training. The appropriations
cover wages and social insurance of teachers and other employees, edu-
cational equipment and supplies of all types, construction and capital
repair of educational facilities, and student stipends. Budget ap-
propriations for education and cadre training, however, do not include
the expenses of such research organizations as the Academy of Sciences
in Peking. 52/ In addition to government outlays, industrial enter-
prises and rural communes and production brigades provide supplementary
support for education.xxx For example, some industrial enterprises
sponsor full-time study in institutions of higher learning by their
workers, 54/ and rural communes and production brigades often provide
buildings for use as schoolhouses and pay for the upkeep of school-
houses.
The year-to-year trend in government expenditures on edu-
cation and cadre training has been steadily upward except for a slight
* Party and government personnel.
** For estimates of budgeted expenditures on education and cadre
training in Communist China, 1950-60, see Table 6, which follows on
p. 17.
xxx In the period before the formation of the communes, the regime
stated that expenditures on primnry schools were met partly from local
surtaxes or other local levies that were not included in the state
budget. ?53/
- 16-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
Table 6
Budgeted Expenditures on Education and Training in Communist China a
1950-59 and Planned for 1960
Million Current Yuan
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 195/ 1958 1959 1960
Total 491.5 920.8 1,313.1 2,081.8 2,105.1 2,016.4 2,955.012/ 3,187.6 2,860.0 2/ 3,338.1 1/ 5,114.0 1/
Education N.A. 813.6 1,123.1 1,831.8 1,883.3 1,761.0 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.
College N.A. 113.5 205.1 425.8 467.5 399.1 626.4 2/ 619.6 1/ N.A. N.A. N.A.
-Secondary N.A. 139.8 394.4 722.1 743.5 69i.ok 2,012.7 2/ 2,204.3 1/ N.A. N.A. N.A.
Primary N.A. 560.3 499.5 633.4 649.2 649.1 N.A. N.A. N.A.
Spare-time and
illiteracy
education in _
industry and
agriculture N.A. Negl. 24.1 50.5 23.1 21.81 I
315.9 g/ 363.7 ?..j N.A. N.A. N.A.
190.0 250.0 221.8 255.41 N.A. N.A. N.A.
Cadre training
N.A.
107.2
a.
b.
c.
figure (88.8 percent)
tures. 57
d. 58 The figure for 1960 is planned.
e. 59/
f? _2/
g. , Residual.
h. Derived from the amount spent on culture,
culture, education, and social services. L/
Excluding expenditures on research.
2.Y
Derived on the assumption that actual expenditures on education and cadre training were the same proportion of the planned
as actual expenditures for social, cultural, educational, and health purposes were to planned expendi-
education, science, and health and welfare subtracted from total expenditures on
- 17 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
decline in 1955 and a drop of roughly 10 percent in 1958. The decrease
In these government expenditures in 1958 probably resulted from the
"leap forward" drive to expand construction and production. At the
height of the "leap forward" in the second half of 1958, college,
middle school, and in some cases even primary school students worked
around backyard iron furnaces and in the fields rather than at study
in the classrooms. The large increase in government expenditures on
education and cadre training planned for 1960 was in part a reflec-
tion of a substantial planned increase in construction of new build-
ings, but a large increase in operating expenditures of colleges and
middle schools probably was also planned.
Student stipends totaled 1,540 million yuan during the
First Five Year Plan (1953-57), more than 12 percent of total govern-
ment expenditures on education and cadre training in that period. 62/
No figures on investment and capital repair outlays have been pub-
lished, but fragmentary information suggests that these outlays were
roughly 20 percent of total government expenditures on education and
cadre training during the period 1953-57. The bulk of the government
expenditures on education and cadre training, of course, went for com-
pensation of teachers and other employees and for other operating
expenses.
Under the present system of financial management of edu-
cational institutions, tuition fees and other income received by these
institutions must be remitted to the Treasury. With the exception of
supplementary support from industrial enterprises and from rural com-
munes and production brigades, all expenses of the educational insti-
tutions are covered by budget appropriations. 63/
2. Teachers
School enrollment has expanded so rapidly in Communist
China during the past decade that the provision of an adequate number
of trained teachers has been a critical problem. Between 1949 and
1958 the number of professional teachers at all levels increased from
930,000 to 2.5 million, 64/ an increase of nearly 170 percent, but
during the same period full-time enrollment increased 276 percent.
The shortage of teachers apparently was particularly severe in the
secondary schools, where enrollment was rising most rapidly. To
alleviate this shortage, primary school teachers often were assigned
to teach in secondary schools, with little or no provision for ad-
ditional training. 65/
The sharp expansion in enrollment that occurred in the
1958/59 and 1959/60 school years undoubtedly placed severe strains on
the teaching staffs, with concomitant adverse effects on the quality
-18-
S-Er-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
of education. Beginning in 1955, however, the secondary schools have
graduated annually more than a million persons, many of whom probably
could be pressed into service as teachers to take care of the tremen-
dous rise in enrollment in regular primary schools (26 million between
the 1957/58 and the 1959/60 school years). Chinese officials claim
also that in addition to full-time teachers there were 420,000 spare-
time teachers in 1959 and 580,000 in 1960, 66/ most of them Probably
having had little formal training for teaching
3. Physical Facilities
School buildings and equipment, like trained teachers,
have been chronically in short supply in Communist China. For ex-
ample, although the number of classes in Nanking middle schools`was
to increase by 141 in 1956, the province allocated funds to construct
only 37 classes; middle school enrollment totaled 31,000 in 1956, but
available school buildings could accommodate only 12,000. In Kiangsi
Province, some schools had to hold classes on playgrounds. 67/ In
1959, Lu Ting-I reported, "While we fin China] have more than 37 mil-
lion youngsters of from 13 to 16 years of age, our regular junior
middle schools operated on a full-day basis can accommodate only a
little more than 7 million pupils." 68/
With the "leap forward" in 1958 the number of schools in-
creased sharply. Thus Communist China reportedly had 950,000 primary
schools, 150,000 middle and secondary technical schools, and 1,408
colleges in the 1958/59 school year compared with 550,000 primary
schools, 12,500 middle schools, and 229 colleges in the 1957/58 school
year. 69/ China also claims that 87 percent of the children of primary
school age are now in school 70/ and that every commune has its own
primary schools, every hsien its middle school, and every province or
autonomous region its college. Although state budget allocations for
education increased moderately in 1959, such a large number of schools
could hardly have been constructed in a single year. Most of the new
schools probably were makeshift affairs established by the communes
with whatever physical facilities were at hand. The government has
recognized the critical need for new school buildings and equipment,
however, and, as shown in Table 6,* has sharply increased the funds
allocated to education in the state budget for 1960.
* P. 17, above.
-19-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C7R-ErT
II. Current Reform
A. Provisions
Since 1958 a variety of experiments with the organization of
the school system, with the curricula of primary and middle schools,
and with teaching methods have been carried out in Communist China.*
These experiments apparently have laid the groundwork for a thorough-
going reform of the educational system. Speeches made by the Minis-
ter of Education, Yang Hsiu-feng, and by Vice-Premier, Lu Ting-I, at
the Second NationaJ Peoples Congress in April 1960 indicate in a gen-
eral way the nature of this reform, which is to be carried out over
the next 10 to 20 years. 11/ The most significant changes are the
planned reduction of the period of full-time primary and middle school
education from 12 to 10 years and the possible lowering of the school-
entry age from 7 to 6. A similar reform apparently also is to be made
in the normal (teacher-training) secondary school system, 72/ but the
changes (if any) planned for technical and agricultural schools have
not yet been indicated. Although a final decision on the form of the
new 10-year schools 'apparently has not been made and experiments are
continuing, educational spokesmen now seem to favor a unified school
without primary and secondary division. Both Yang and Lu stated ex-
plicitly, moreover, that the new school will be expected to graduate
students with a level of accomplishment equal to that of present
college freshmen. Finally, this change is to be combined with a de-
crease in the number of hours spent in class and an increase in
mandatory physical labor and self study.
The speeches of Yang and Lu indicate that the compression of
13 years of 'study-- 12 years primary and secondary schooling-and
the first. year of college into 10 years is to be accomplished pri-
marily through a reform of the curriculum. The new curriculum ap-
parently will center around languages, mathematics, and science (in
the, secondary schools). :Courses in these basic -subjects are to be
modernized and "streamlined" by combining courses and teaching,courses
at an earlier grade than is now done. Some courses, mostly in the
social sciences, probably will be combined or dropped. The speakers
at the Congress also indicated other measures considered necessary
to achieve the planned compression of the primary-secondary school
program. Among these measures are a wholesale revision of textbooks,
an upgrading of standards for teacher-training, the provision of audio-
visual aids on a large scale, and an acceleration of the boarding
school program.
* See II A, 3, p. 3, above.
20 .
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
?
S-E-C-R-E-T
B. Objectives
The speeches at the Second National Peoples Congress make it
clear that the two most important motives for the planned reforms are
to raise educational standards and to reduce the real costs of educa-
tion to the state by shortening the period of schooling. Lu admitted
that "cultural standards had been lowered in some respects" since the
advent of the Communist regime and that much course content in mathe-
matics and science was obsolete. The planned intensification and
modernization of the curriculum are aimed at correcting this backward-
ness. Clearly the most important of the two major objectives, however,
is the desire to shorten the period of schooling so as to bring second-
ary school graduates into the labor force at an earlier age. Under
the present system a child who begins school at 7 years of age and
completes 12 years of full-time schooling will be 18 or 19 years of
age before he is available for full-time productive work. By Chinese
Communist standards, however, he is considered to be a "full manpower
unit " -- that is, an adult -- at 16 years of age. The regime clearly
believes that China cannot afford to permit 16-year-olds and 17-year-
olds to be in school when they could be employed productively in the
economy instead. Thus) Lu states, Ne cannot afford to extend our
present senior middle school education to too many persons ... .
Should we try 2,To do this7, we would take away too much manpower from
production." Besides making educated young people available for work
2 years earlier, the reform, by reducing the number of grades and
classes, should help to alleviate the shortage of teachers and of
classrooms or, alternatively, would permit these facilities to be
used for the education of a larger number of students.
C. Comparison with the USSR 50X1
The USSR) like Communist China) has recently undertaken a
major reform of elementary and secondary education. Although the
reforms in the two countries are similar in some respects, the
Chinese reforms are not mere carbon copies of those now taking place
in the USSR. In accordance with the provisions of an educational
reform law enacted in December 1958) the USSR is gradually convert-
ing its 10-year program of elementary and secondary education to an
11-year program with no change in the school-entry age of 7. The
curriculum also is being revised to provide some kind of job training
and work experience in all grades. China, in contrast, now plans to
reduce the number of years of elementary-secondary education from
12 to 10 and, possibly, to lower the school entry age from 7 to 6.
The curriculum in both countries will continue to be heavily weighted
with science, mathematics, and languages.
- 21-
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S- E- C- R- E- T
The planned changes announced by Communist China in 1960 con-
tinue reforms started in 1958, several features of which also charac-
terize the educational reforms in the USSR. Thus both countries have
revised their curricula to include vocational training so that future
secondary school graduates will have had specific vocational experience
as well as academic training. In addition, both countries place great
emphasis on the expansion of part-time education, particularly at the
college level. Finally, the reforms in the two countries stress the
critical importance of ideological (Communist) "upbringing" at all
school levels. Although China is far behind the USSR in the level of
education and economic development, the motives underlying current
educational reforms in China seem to be quite similar. Both China and
the USSR are seeking to reduce the costs of education by seeing to it
that most 16-year-olds to 17-year-olds are at work instead of in
school. China intends to accomplish this result by compressing the
period of formal schooling, while the USSR seeks to do so by encourag-
ing most elementary school graduates (8th graders) either to enter
short-term vocational schools or to take jobs and attend night schools.
Both countries also intend that graduates from schools at all levels
shall have had vocational training. In the USSR, but not in China,
the timing of the reforms is directly related to the need to channel
a maximum number of youths into the labor force during a temporary
period of sharply declining annual additions to the population of
working age resulting from the low birth rates of World War II.
D. Economic Significance
The motivation for the current prospective changes in the edu-
cational system in Communist China seems to be primarily economic.
The timing of the reform reflects the imperative need for rapidly in-
creasing the supply of skilled manpower in support of China's ambitious
program for industrial development.
1. For the Size of the Labor Force
A clear intent of the reforms is to insure that progress
toward the goal of universal secondary education does not deprive the
economy of needed young manpower. As noted before, Communist China
considers a person to be the equivalent of an adult worker when he is
16 years of age. At present, there are approximately 24 million per-
sons 16 and 17 years of age who would normally be in grades 11 and 12
under the present system. Only a small fraction of these young people,
perhaps less than 5 percent, is actually attending full-time schools,
but this proportion would increase rapidly if the goal of universal
secondary education were to be pushed. Under the planned reforms,
children who start to school at 6 or 7 years of age will graduate at
16 or 17 years of age and can then be put to work. Thus the expansion
- 22-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E- T
of secondary education will not progressively deprive the labor force
of "adult" workers, as would occur under the present system.
Over the long run the reforms, if successful, will reduce
the real costs of education to the state. Because secondary school
graduates normally will start to work 2 years earlier than under the
present system, the reforms will add 2 years to the working span of
the average worker, :FUrthermore, if the regime succeeds in its objec-
tive of obtaining the equivalent of the present 13 years of education
in 10 years) it will have reduced the economic burden of education
even more.
According to current estimates, the labor force of Com-
munist China is expected to grow from 321 million in 1960 to 345 mil-
lion in 1964. lig The planned reforms are not expected to affect the
size of the labor force significantly during this period, because the
number of senior secondary students who would be directly Affected is
small, only about 1 million, 75/ and because the reform is to be
carried out gradually over a period of 10 to 20 years.
2. For Skill and Productivity Levels
The reorganization of education in Communist China prob-
ably will have a favorable long-run effect on the skill of the labor
force and on productivity. If the reform succeeds in its objectives,
young people will enter the labor force from the 10-year schools with
the educational equivalent of a first-year college student and also
with some work experience. Thus not only will the average new worker
bring work experience and more education to his job, but also he will
require less training on the job and will become fully productive more
quickly. Moreover, as China proceeds with the task of achieving uni-
versal secondary education, the proportion of workers with a sub-
stantial foundation in the mathematical, scientific, and technical
fields will increase -- a development that will add flexibility to the
labor supply by facilitating occupational mobility. Finally, if China
succeeds in upgrading the quality of secondary school education and in
extending it to larger proportions of young people, China will have a
much better foundation for training its own technical intelligentsia
than it has now.
The pace at which the proposed reform will be pushed and
the extent to which it will succeed are matters of conjecture. At
the moment the regime seems determined to carry out the reform. The
key test, however, will be whether or not the necessary funds are al-
located, for a determined endeavor to make secondary education univer-
sal and improve its quality will require a large investment in physical
facilities and teacher training. If a 5-year secondary education
- 23-
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
S-E-C-R-E-T
(grades 6 through 10) were to be provided for all children, school
facilities would have to be provided for nearly 60 million students. 76/
At present, only about 13 million students attend the full-time sec-
ondary schools. ,
Putting the reform into effect will be a complicated and
expensive task. Teachers must be trained, new schools must be con-
structed and equipped, and fundamental changes must be made in the
curricula at all school levels. The period of transition to the new
system will be difficult for students, teachers, and school adminis-
trators. But when the reorganization is completed, Communist China
should have a more efficient system of education that more closely
meets the needs of the state and the economy.
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
R
Next 3 Page(s) In Document Denied
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6
SECRET
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/26: CIA-RDP79R01141A001900120001-6