两免一补政策 英语论文.pdf

The Role of the “Two Exemptions One Subsidy” Policy in Alleviating Poverty in Rural China Jiang Zhongyi Rural Policy Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture I. Unfairness in Elementary Education and Design of the “Two Exemptions One Subsidy” Policy For a long time, the income gap between China’s eastern and central-western areas has kept on widening and poverty-stricken rural households in central-western areas have encountered financial difficulties in supporting their children’s education. According to statistics in 2005, there were more than 24 million students from poverty-stricken families at the compulsory education stage in central-western rural areas. A typical rural primary/middle school student need pay 300-500 yuan a year for his/her textbooks and incidental fees, which accounted for more than 50 percent of the annual per capita cash income of a poverty-stricken rural household that had less than 1,000 yuan of annual net income. Naturally education expenses have produced heavy financial and psychological pressures on poverty-stricken families and when illness occurs or disaster happens, students from such families usually drop out because of debts. Prior to 2002, China’s rural compulsory education had practiced a financial investment system featuring “stratified administration by local governments with county and township governments being the mainstay” while central and provincial finances having little responsibility for rural compulsory education, which was limited to some subsidies for improving facilities in