Educational migration and rural decline in China : evidence from one county

Abstract

Rural villages in China have been continually suffering population loss. In addition to loss due to labour out-migration, rural China has also lost much of its adult labour and next generation to the phenomenon of Peidu, also called educational migration in this study. In recent decades, up to sixty percent of families in the service areas of some rural schools have migrated to county seat or large townships to send their children to urban schools. Unlike rural-to-urban labour migration for employment opportunities, educational migration is a form of school choice, which is a new phenomenon for rural populations. Previous research has examined the impact of this phenomenon on individual children, parents, and rural families. However, the deeper reasons for it and its social outcomes have been overlooked. Rural educational migration occurs against the larger background of rural decline and a wide rural-urban educational gap, both of which are the bitter fruits of the urban bias in China’s development policies. Educational migration tends to be rural families’ response to China’s urban-biased development, but may lead to detrimental social outcomes. As a form of school choice, rural educational migration is likely to aggravate educational and social inequality; as a kind of migration, it causes a loss of labour and ‘brain drain’ that adversely affects rural villages. Therefore, this study explores how urban biased development influences rural educational migration and how rural educational migration in turn affects educational inequality and rural villages. To address the research questions, a mixed method research was conducted in one county of Hubei Province. Rural parents (both educational migrant and non-migrant parents), rural and urban teachers/principals, educational officials, villagers, and village officials from six urban schools, seven rural schools and eight villages participated in this study. Data collection methods included questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The findings reveal that China’s urban-biased development and the resultant rural decline and urban-oriented education spur rural parents/guardians to migrate to access urban schools for their children’s social mobility and urbanization. Some children may benefit from this educational exodus, but these individual achievements are realized at the expense of the communal good. This is because the phenomenon of rural educational migration increases educational inequality and enhances social stratification within the rural population. In addition, it also erodes rural communities’ economy, agriculture, social connectedness, and culture. As a result, rural decline has been perpetuated by rural educational migration. However, the development of rural villages is significant for national food security and social sustainability, as rural communities in China perform multiple production, living, ecological, and cultural functions. Therefore, the current educational system, which deeply harms rural communities, must be reformed. To achieve sustainable rural development, this study calls for a transformation from the current urban-biased education, which works against the countryside, to a rural-oriented form of education that serves rural reconstruction.