Reading Education for all
In 1986, the Chinese government introduced a law stating that by the year 2000 every Chinese child would have nine years of compulsory education. Although there were several problems in reaching this target, the outcome was highly successful. It is reported that 99% of school-age children in China attended primary school by 2004.

In China, as in other countries, the government realises that the future welfare of its citizens is closely linked to education. When the World Education Forum met in 2000, it calculated that there were 113 million children not in school. At the Forum, the member countries of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) made a commitment to provide "complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality for all children by 2015". They called this goal "Education for All". These countries are now trying to get every child into school, and they are experiencing similar difficulties to those that China faces.

To begin with, it is important to create a positive attitude. In areas where agriculture plays an important role, people do not attach importance to education, and parents are sceptical of anything that takes children away from their work on the farm. It has to be explained how the child, the family and the community can benefit, but it is' not easy to change traditional ideas. China and other countries found that even when children from the countryside do start school, they have a tendency to be absent and often drop out later. In some cultures parents are particularly unwilling to send their daughters to school because the custom is to educate boys rather than girls.

China's large population meant that the schools had to expand to take in many more students. There has been a shortage of teachers. Countries with a small population have problems too. In the Turks and Caicos Islands, where there are less than 20,000 people, the number of students in some schools is so low that students of several different grades are taught in the same classroom. How people are distributed can also affect the education system. In China most citizens live in the eastern areas and this results in large class sizes. Parts of the remote central and western provinces, however, have few people. Schools in these regions cannot support teachers for the small numbers of students at each level, so teachers have mixed-grade classes. In north and central Australia the population is so spread out that children in some rural settlements can be as far as 1,000 km away from the nearest school. To solve this, Australia uses "distance learning" methods, where the students have lessons by two-way radio and mail.

The success of a country in bringing education to all also depends on the economy. In many developing countries there is not enough money available to provide classrooms, desks, chairs, books and teachers for all the children. To equip schools some of these governments rely almost completely on aid from other countries, international organisations such as the World Bank and non-governmental organisations such as Save the Children. Other countries receive help with particular programmes: both the World Bank and Save the Children have helped China with schools in less developed provinces. Corporations and private citizens also donate money through the Hope Project.

Even the richest nation in the world faces problems. The USA has found that it is not easy to make sure that every student receives the same quality of teaching. One in three students in the United States lives in the countryside, and providing them with a full curriculum is difficult. Distance learning has helped, and now many American children in small countryside schools study subjects using computer software, e-mail and video conferencing. China has also adopted distance learning methods such as television lessons, and in 1999, the Ministry of Education introduced computerized teaching networks in central and western China.

The Chinese government overcame problems of population and economy to accomplish its "nine years - of compulsory education" goal. Now, when a Chinese couple has a baby, they can be confident that their child will be able to attend school. But it is very different for parents of children in the least developed nations of Africa and Asia. In these countries, where some people do not even have fresh water or basic health care, reaching the target of"Education for All" will be a huge task, despite help from the international community.
文本来源于在线英语听力室