Primary and Secondary Education中小学教育

In China, primary and secondary education takes 12 years to complete, divided into primary, junior secondary and senior secondary stages. Primary education lasts either 5 or 6 years with the former accounting for 35% of the total enrollment and the latter 65% of the total enrollment. At junior secondary stage, most have 3 years schooling with a tiny part of 4 years. Almost 98% of students are enrolled in the former schools. The 9-year schooling in primary and junior secondary schools pertains to compulsory education（义务教育yìwù jiàoyù）. General senior secondary education lasts 3 years.

Since the promulgation（颁布bānbù） of the "Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China" in 1986, the 9-year compulsory education has been implemented by governments at various levels and made significant progress. According to the statistics（统计数字tǒngjì shùzì） of 2010, the net enrollment rate of primary school age children above 99%, and the proportion（比例bǐlì） of primary school graduates（毕业生bìyèshēng） continuing their study in junior secondary schools (including vocational ones) reached above 99% as well. In the urban areas of large cities and economically developed coast（海岸hǎiàn） areas, the universalization（普遍化pǔbiànhuà） of senior secondary education has been launched. In 2010, there were altogether 280,184 primary schools with an enrollment of 17,388,465 students and there were total 87,665 secondary schools in China.

Chinese government attaches great importance to the universalization of compulsory education in rural, poor and minority areas. In 1987, the former SEDC and the ministry of Finance jointly issued（发布fābù） the "Opinion on Some Issues Concerning the Reform（改革gǎigé） of Administration of Basic education in rural Areas". At present, basic education is provided by the governments at the county（县xiàn）, township（镇区zhènqǖ） and administrative villages levels with the administrative power assumed by county and township governments and with major decision made by the county governments. Efforts are made to integrate the development of education and the upgrading of quality of labor force with the development of the local economy（经济jīngjì） and the advancement（进步jìnbù） of culture and ethical and living standard of the people. As a result, the development of rural education and local economy have been promoted.