Basic education development in China: from finance reform to World Bank projects Available to Purchase

Basic education (primary and junior secondary schooling) in China has experienced phenomenal development in the reform era from the late 1970s. The most important reform policies; namely, decentralization of governance and diversification of finance, have been translated into an unprecedented scale of resource mobilization for schooling expansion. This article examines China’s education finance reform and basic education development. It analyzes international aid and assistance, particularly major basic education projects financed by the World Bank and other international organizations. The article argues that China is not necessarily “in the driving seat” in cooperation with the World Bank, and that the bank does not play purely “a pivotal positive role” in helping develop Chinese basic education. In spite of its huge aid and assistance in China, the bank, to a certain extent, also contributes to the formation of China’s bifurcated schooling system.