China Daily
11th June 2023
Schools foster inclusive education
Boarding schools in China have been helping the government promote inclusive education and have made a significant contribution to the global poverty reduction goals outlined in the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, while providing a valuable reference for the world, particularly developing countries, to ensure children enjoy the right to education.
The right to education is a basic constitutional right in China. According to the Law on Compulsory Education, county-level governments are required to establish boarding schools to ensure that school-age children in all residential areas receive nine years of compulsory education. And according to the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, the organs of government in ethnic autonomous areas may establish public primary and secondary schools, mainly boarding schools and schools providing subsidies, in pastoral areas and less-developed, sparsely populated mountainous areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups to ensure that students complete compulsory education.
Boarding schools offering nine-year compulsory education help ease the financial difficulties faced by the families of children in rural, ethnic autonomous and remote areas, and promote the right to education for all children.