China closes schools as enrolment declines

China closed over 32,000 elementary and junior high schools in 2004 as the enrolment of young students declined across the country, according to the Xinhua General News Service.

China had 112 million elementary students last year, 4.4 million fewer than in the previous year, according to the Ministry of Education, which assessed a total of 394,200 elementary schools.The number of junior high school students dropped by 1.6 million to 65.2 million in 2004, as the assessment of 63,800 junior high schools showed.
Most of these children were born in the late 1980s or early 1990s, about 10 years after China began to implement its one-child policy.

However, while enrolment is on the decline for students in those age groups, China witnessed a growing number of senior high school and university students last year. Education authorities said that the Ministry had to set up 219 new senior high schools and 179 universities in 2004 to meet the demand.