"Education should be a comprehensive process which includes the cultivation of personalities, interaction with communities and quality time with family. Consolidating these schools damages these, and is an unfortunate result of China's exam-oriented education system," said Tong.
The plan was halted in 2012 after more problems with the strategy were revealed, including a car crash in November 2011 in which 19 children were killed in a school bus on their way to a consolidated kindergarten in rural Gansu Province.
"The plan was designed with good intentions but in reality was driven by economics," said Tong. "Some local governments intentionally shut down village schools so they could amass students in townships and force their families to spend. The plan has become a tool for local governments to boost tax income and drive up GDP."
A lost decade
This consolidation has coincided with a steady rise in the country's overall primary school dropout rate to the level it was at a decade ago, said Han Qinglin, an official from the Hebei provincial department of education, as well as the chairman of the Association of Rural Education under the Chinese Society of Education.
Landmark building should respect the public's feeling
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