Several Chinese provinces are reducing the number of new teaching positions due to the declining population of school-aged children in recent years, reflecting the country’s worsening demographic challenges, according to a report from the South China Morning Post.
Significant reductions in teaching jobs, which are highly respected and considered stable in China, contribute to the already challenging job market as the nation struggles to provide sufficient employment opportunities for its vast workforce, particularly recent graduates.
Jiangxi province in eastern China announced that new teaching positions for preschool, primary, and secondary schools would be reduced by 54.7 per cent to 4,968 this year, which is less than a third of the recruitment numbers from two years ago. Similarly, Hubei province has seen a 20 per cent decrease in teacher recruitment over the same period.
The primary reason for this decline appears to be the falling number of school-aged children, as China experiences an “ultra-low” fertility rate, with fewer than 1.4 live births per woman over a lifetime.
The China Population and Development Research Centre estimates that the total fertility rate dropped to 1.09 in 2022, while the number of births halved between 2016 and 2023, to 9.02 million. Jiangxi’s education department acknowledged the challenge, stating, “[The] low fertility rate will become one of the main risks for the country’s population development.”
In response to the decreasing fertility rate, education resources must be restructured. Jiangxi authorities noted the closure of one-fifth of schools in the province’s rural areas with fewer than 100 students. Similarly, Hunan province in central China announced that no new kindergartens would be built in rural areas last year due to the declining number of children in kindergartens, which decreased by 14.79 per cent to 319,400 in 2023 compared to the previous year.
The nationwide trend of declining preschool enrolments persisted for the third year in a row, as evidenced by the latest figures from the Ministry of Education. In the previous year, the number of kindergartens across the country fell to less than 275,000, marking a decrease of 14,800 compared to 2022. Concurrently, enrolments experienced a significant drop, plummeting by 5.35 million to reach 40.9 million.
Dong Yuzheng, president of the Guangdong Social Sciences Association in southern China, pointed out that the demographic shifts have had a more profound impact on rural regions. As urbanisation continues to draw people towards large and medium-sized cities, rural areas are facing a significant decline in population.
This demographic shift is not only affecting the overall population density in these areas but also leading to a noticeable decrease in the number of preschool students, Dong explained to the business media outlet Yicai.com. The migration of people from rural to urban areas has resulted in a disproportionate decline in the number of young children in the countryside, placing greater strain on these communities.
Significant reductions in teaching jobs, which are highly respected and considered stable in China, contribute to the already challenging job market as the nation struggles to provide sufficient employment opportunities for its vast workforce, particularly recent graduates.
Jiangxi province in eastern China announced that new teaching positions for preschool, primary, and secondary schools would be reduced by 54.7 per cent to 4,968 this year, which is less than a third of the recruitment numbers from two years ago. Similarly, Hubei province has seen a 20 per cent decrease in teacher recruitment over the same period.
The primary reason for this decline appears to be the falling number of school-aged children, as China experiences an “ultra-low” fertility rate, with fewer than 1.4 live births per woman over a lifetime.
The China Population and Development Research Centre estimates that the total fertility rate dropped to 1.09 in 2022, while the number of births halved between 2016 and 2023, to 9.02 million. Jiangxi’s education department acknowledged the challenge, stating, “[The] low fertility rate will become one of the main risks for the country’s population development.”
In response to the decreasing fertility rate, education resources must be restructured. Jiangxi authorities noted the closure of one-fifth of schools in the province’s rural areas with fewer than 100 students. Similarly, Hunan province in central China announced that no new kindergartens would be built in rural areas last year due to the declining number of children in kindergartens, which decreased by 14.79 per cent to 319,400 in 2023 compared to the previous year.
The nationwide trend of declining preschool enrolments persisted for the third year in a row, as evidenced by the latest figures from the Ministry of Education. In the previous year, the number of kindergartens across the country fell to less than 275,000, marking a decrease of 14,800 compared to 2022. Concurrently, enrolments experienced a significant drop, plummeting by 5.35 million to reach 40.9 million.
Dong Yuzheng, president of the Guangdong Social Sciences Association in southern China, pointed out that the demographic shifts have had a more profound impact on rural regions. As urbanisation continues to draw people towards large and medium-sized cities, rural areas are facing a significant decline in population.
This demographic shift is not only affecting the overall population density in these areas but also leading to a noticeable decrease in the number of preschool students, Dong explained to the business media outlet Yicai.com. The migration of people from rural to urban areas has resulted in a disproportionate decline in the number of young children in the countryside, placing greater strain on these communities.
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