Education for Rural Development in the People's Republic of China. Background Paper No. 3.

How education has been used for rural development in the People's Republic of China since 1949 may have important lessons for other nations, particularly in the area of nonformal schools. Responsibility for all education lies with the commune. Educational programs, enthusiastically received by the people, support local needs and development rather than preconceived educational models and show a remarkable degree of innovation and pragmatism. Communes offer three basic categories of educational programs: primary-level education for children and a literacy counterpart for adults; middle-level specialized education combining specific training, production work, and applied research to solve specific local problems (the agricultural middle school, a prototype for rural education, is a half-study, half-work system); and various kinds of inservice training and spare-time educational facilities designed to provide skilled, productive manpower and rural leadership. Inservice and spare-time training is also used extensively in training teachers for rural education. Removal of rigid entrance requirements has made formal schools accessible to more people; those who want to continue education are considered only after they apply what they have learned to productive work. Mass media is used intensively in education. (RS)