Technological Resources, Teacher-Student Ratio Differences, and Educational Inequality Between Urban and Rural Areas in China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31674/ijrtbt.2025.v09i01.002Abstract
Introduction: Educational resource inequality between urban and rural areas remains a critical issue in achieving educational equity. This study focuses on the disparities in access to technical resources and teacher-student ratios in schools across Eastern China, aiming to examine their causes and impacts on educational quality and social development. Methods: Using data collected from 32 junior high schools and 7 primary schools, this study employs a combination of field surveys and questionnaire analysis. Quantitative methods are applied to compare urban and rural schools in terms of technical equipment, internet access, intelligent teaching resources, and teacher-student ratios, and to assess their influence on education quality. Results: The findings reveal that urban schools demonstrate significant advantages in resource allocation, characterised by lower teacher-student ratios, higher teacher qualifications, and richer technical resources. In contrast, rural schools face substantial resource shortages, which exacerbate educational disparities and hinder equitable development. Grounded in human capital theory, this study highlights the critical role of equitable resource allocation in enhancing human capital accumulation, improving education quality, and fostering balanced social and economic development. The findings underscore the necessity of increasing resource allocation to rural schools and optimising urban-rural resource distribution. Future research should expand sample coverage and incorporate diverse regions and school types to further investigate the multifaceted causes of educational inequality and propose actionable solutions. Conclusion: Urban schools demonstrate significant advantages in the allocation of educational resources, while rural institutions face severe shortages in these fundamental provisions. Specifically, the unequal distribution of technological resources and disparities in student-teacher ratios constitute primary drivers exacerbating urban-rural educational inequality.
Keywords:
China, Educational Disparities, Resource Allocation, Rural EducationDownloads
References
Acheampong, A. O., Opoku, E. E. O., Amankwaa, A., & Dzator, J. (2024). Energy poverty and gender equality in education: Unpacking the transmission channels. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123274
Brown, G. L. (1921). Inequality of Educational Opportunity. The Journal of Educational Research, 3(3), 195–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1921.10879148
Castelló, A., & Doménech, R. (2002). Human capital inequality and economic growth: some new evidence. The Economic Journal, 112(478), C187-C200. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00024
Chao, C. M., & Yu, T. K. (2016). How to overcome the digital divide? An empirical study of Taiwan’s DOCs. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 68(5), 628-642. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-03-2016-0036
Featherman, D. L., & Hauser, R. M. (1981). Gary D. Sandefur, Opportunity and Change. Social Forces, 59(3), 867-868. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/59.3.867
Fu, Q., & Ren, Q. (2010). Educational inequality under China's rural–urban divide: The hukou system and return to education. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 42(3), 592-610. https://doi.org/10.1068/a42101
Guo, Y., & Li, X. (2024). Regional inequality in China's educational development: An urban-rural comparison. Heliyon, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26249
Hannum, E. (1999). Political change and the urban-rural gap in basic education in China, 1949-1990. Comparative Education Review, 43(2), 193-211. https://doi.org/10.1086/447554
Hannum, E., & Meiyan, W. (2006). Geography and educational inequality in China. China Economic Review, 17(3), 253-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2006.04.003
Kan, D., Lyu, L., Huang, W., & Yao, W. (2022). The impact of urban education on the income gap of urban residents: Evidence from central China. Sustainability, 14(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084493
Lauderdale, & Vance, J. (2024). Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Yale University Library. Retrieved from: https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/1225, Accessed on 16th November, 2024.
Li, J., & Xue, E. (2022). Unpacking the policies, historical stages, and themes of the education equality for educational sustainable development: Evidence from China. Sustainability, 14(17), 10522. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710522
Lu, Y., Li, W. & Zhou, Z. (2024). School Matters to Whom? The Impact of Educational Resources on Cognitive Inequality. Applied Research Quality Life 19, 2705–2725. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-024-10352-7
Luo, Y., Guo, F., & Li, R. (2021). Gender equality and expansion of higher education: Testing effectively maintained inequality theory against the case of China. International Journal of Educational Research, 110.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2021.101855
Mare, R. D. (1981). Change and stability in educational stratification. American Sociological Review, 46(1), 72–87. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095027
Morrisson, C., & Murtin, F. (2009). The century of education. Journal of Human Capital, 3(1), 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1086/600102
Nachbauer, M. (2024). How schools affect equity in education: Teaching factors and extended day programs associated with average achievement and socioeconomic achievement gaps. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2024.101367
Newton, A. E. (1940). The amenities of book-collecting and kindred affections. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved from: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44360, Accessed on 10th August, 2023
Nikolaidis, A. C. (2023). Epistemic injustice in education: exploring structural approaches, envisioning structural remedies. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 57(4-5), 842-861. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopedu/qhad074
Park, S. (2017). Digital inequalities in rural Australia: A double jeopardy of remoteness and social exclusion. Journal of Rural Studies, 54, 399-407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2015.12.018
Raftery, A. E., & Hout, M. (1993). Maximally maintained inequality: Expansion, reform, and opportunity in Irish education, 1921-75. Sociology of Education, 66(1), 41–62. https://doi.org/10.2307/2112784
Rao, J., & Ye, J. (2016). From a virtuous cycle of rural-urban education to urban-oriented rural basic education in China: An explanation of the failure of China’s Rural School Mapping Adjustment policy. Journal of Rural Studies, 47, 601-611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.07.005
Sun, H. P., Sun, W. F., Geng, Y., & Kong, Y. S. (2018). Natural resource dependence, public education investment, and human capital accumulation. Petroleum Science, 15, 657-665. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12182-018-0235-0
Sun, Q., & Zhang, L. J. (2023). Examining the relative effectiveness of online, blended and face-to-face teaching modes for promoting EFL teacher professional development. Porta Linguarum: revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras, (9), 13-27. https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi2023c.29619
Sun, J., Yang, Z., Chen, S., & Deng, R. (2024). Exploring the Disparity in Digital Media Literacy Between Urban and Rural Primary School Students: Insights from an Empirical Study in China. Frontiers of Digital Education, 1(2), 178-197.https://doi.org/10.1007/s44366-024-0003-1
Thomas, V., Wang, Y., & Fan, X. (2001). Measuring Education Inequality: Gini Coefficients of Education (Vol. 2525). World Bank Publications, USA. http://refhub.elsevier.com/S0738-0593(13)00043-6/sbref0130
Wang, Q. (2021). Higher education institutions and entrepreneurship in underserved communities. Higher Education, 81(6), 1273-1291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00611-5
Wang, C., Chen, X., Yu, T., Liu, Y., & Jing, Y. (2024). Education reform and change driven by digital technology: a bibliometric study from a global perspective. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 256. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02717-y
Weiss, Y. (2015). Gary Becker on human capital. Journal of Demographic Economics, 81(1), 27-31. https://doi.org/10.1017/dem.2014.4
Xiang, L., & Stillwell, J. (2023). Rural-urban educational inequalities and their spatial variations in China. Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 16(2), 873-896. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-023-09506-1
Yang, J., Huang, X., & Liu, X. (2014). An analysis of education inequality in China. International Journal of Educational Development, 37, 2-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2014.03.002
Yu, T. K., Lin, M. L., & Liao, Y. K. (2017). Understanding factors influencing information communication technology adoption behavior: The moderators of information literacy and digital skills. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, 196-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.005
Yu, Z., Zhu, N., & Baležentis, T. (2017). Impact of public education and regional economic growth in China: A shadow-price perspective. Sustainability, 9(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081333
Zahl-Thanem, A., & Rye, J. F. (2024). Spatial inequality in higher education: a growing urban–rural educational gap? European Sociological Review, 40(6), 1067-1081 https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcae015
Zhang, Z., Luan, W., Tian, C., Su, M., & Li, Z. (2022). Education equality and its influencing factors for migrant children in the compulsory education stage based on multi-source data: A case study of dalian, China. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.950853
Zhao, L., Xu, P., Chen, Y., & Yan, S. (2022). A literature review of the research on students’ evaluation of teaching in higher education. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1004487
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 International Journal on Recent Trends in Business and Tourism (IJRTBT)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
