The aim of this paper is to build a capability-based framework, drawing upon the strengths of other approaches, which is applicable to the complexity of the urban-rural divide in education in China. It starts with a brief introduction to the capability approach. This is followed by a discussion of how the rights-based approach and resource-based…

This policy is the first manifestation of the state's effort to organize youth to volunteer in rural China where the help is most needed. It emphasizes key tasks that can be accomplished by the volunteers in terms of education and training for rural China, especially through science and education. The Promotion Action reflects the mission of the…

Most university students in China have their sights firmly set on future job and study opportunities in urban cities and abroad. However, a network of student volunteers felt compelled to join the cause of rural development and villager empowerment, reminiscent of efforts promoted forty years ago by Chairman Mao who sent "educated youth"…

Since its establishment in 2003, the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J) has paid close attention to informal learning processes in community-based efforts to promote local sustainable development. ESD-J carried out two projects to collect information on and visualise community-based ESD practice: the…

The author draws upon her field observations in China during 1976 to describe how the People's Republic is trying to provide a broader base for popular participation in development. Discusses the changing nature of schooling, the importance placed on learning, and specific examples of changes in education. (CT)

Describes the structure of the Chinese rural school system and its operational ties to the communes, which provide the "productive labor" component of Chinese education, various resources and facilities for schools, and governance of agrotechnical education at the middle and secondary level. (SJL)

A nine-member Study Mission was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and visited China in 1975 to study Chinese approaches to agricultural and rural development in depth; to analyze the commune experience as an example of integrated rural development; and to try to determine in what ways the Chinese development…

The third workshop on the preparation of materials for the newly-literate in Asia and the Pacific was designed to train participants in the development, production (including design and illustration), distribution, and utilization of neoliteracy materials relevant to the needs of rural people. Workshop activities included: (1) discussions on…

Case studies and seminar reports are provided that were presented at an international seminar to examine field experiences in using a culture-based approach to nonformal education. Part I, containing an introductory paper and nine case studies, focuses on indigenous institutions and processes in health, family planning, agriculture, basic…

This issue of the Courier contains articles loosely connected to each other by the underlying theme of developing people's capacity to improve the quality of their lives. The following articles are included: "Development of Human Resources--A Basic Needs Approach," by Mohiuddin Ahmad; "Rural Poverty," by the United Nations Food…

"Teachers' Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-State" is an innovative account of educational and social transformations in politically tumultuous early twentieth-century China. It focuses on the unique nature of Chinese teachers' schools, which bridged Chinese and Western ideals, and the critical role that these schools…

The study attempts to redefine the objectives of Asian development in terms of rapid social change and the redistribution of political power to the rural masses via collectivism. Part I, "The Perspective", describes the largely "anti" rural development experiences of four Asian countries (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China) in…

This report on the educational systems in China and South Africa compares the policies and processes of the two countries as they attempt to expand and improve rural education. Both countries experienced a major political upheaval, and even though there is a 50-year time lag between these events, political changes ushered in radical educational…