Summary:
This April, China’s Ministry of Education (MoE) jointly released a “Plan for Popularization of High School Education (2017-2020)", together with the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Lü Yu-Gang, Director-General of the MoE’s Department of Basic Education, said that the plan aimed to achieve “full popularization” of upper secondary education nationwide, to meet the needs of all junior high school graduates for receiving a quality high school education.

In particular, the plan calls for:
• The gross enrollment rate of senior high school study to exceed 90 per cent in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities – including a particularly strong increase in enrolment in central and western regions
• The enrolment scale at vocational high schools should be approximately equal to that of academic senior high schools, in order to achieve a more reasonable structure for both education systems
• More funds to be invested in these schools, in order to provide better facilities and a significant improvement in education quality
• Teacher training has also been labeled as a priority, as high school class sizes in schools in low income areas are often very large

Upper secondary education in China refers to three years of high school study after the completion of nine years of compulsory primary and junior high school education. It typically lasts from the age of 15 to 18, and includes students attending either academic senior high schools or vocational high schools. China's overall gross enrolment ratio at this level was 87.5 per cent in 2015.

According to Director-General Lü, all but nine of China’s provincial-level regions already exceed this 90 per cent target, meaning that growth efforts over the next few years will be concentrated in these nine provinces and autonomous regions in less developed western regions and areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups.

In response to the plan’s release, some English-language media (including official state-run English language media) erroneously reported that China would extend compulsory education to cover the high school period. However, the British Council has confirmed that this is not in fact the case. Instead, the Chinese government is looking to raise education standards by making access to upper secondary education easier and more affordable.

Analysis by Kevin Prest and Xiaoxiao Liu:
The plan is in line with goals set in China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016 - 2020), which pledges to popularise high school education by the end of this period in order to bridge the regional gap of high school education. Increased investment in upper secondary education in less-developed central and western regions is part of a broader policy trend towards addressing regional disparities, both in education and more broadly.

It is also in line with recent spending trends. In 2016, average per-student spending on upper secondary level increased by 11.3 per cent at academic senior high schools, and by 8.0 per cent at vocational high schools. The rate of increase at academic senior high schools was higher than at any other level of education except pre-school.

Over the next few years, improvements to high school education in central and western regions are likely to increase the number of students from these regions completing upper secondary education and improve their preparedness for higher education. This is likely to have a knock-on effect on increasing HE enrolment in less-developed parts of the country, which will act in conjunction with other government policies aimed at improving HE provision for students from these regions.

Sources:
1. The Plan for Popularization of High School Education (2017-2020) (in Chinese): http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s7053/201704/t20170406_301981.html
2. Questions and answers about the new plan published by the MoE (in Chinese): http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s271/201704/t20170406_301935.html
3. Report on the new policy from state-run English language newspaper (in English, but the title misinterprets the policy to say that high school education will be made compulsory): http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-04/25/content_29068533.htm
4. Report on the increase of education spending in 2016 (in Chinese): http://edu.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0503/c1006-29251077.html