Controlled decentralization: minban education reform in China

Minban (non-state sector operated) education has already established a hold in the Chinese education system. Its development has been viewed as a product of the government's ongoing process of controlled decentralization, together with privatization of education services in the early 1980s. The high importance given to financial decentralization has created tension among different levels of government, and between the government and minban schools. There are also governance issues in this new institutional environment. It is argued that there should be more comprehensive decentralization, greater freedom accorded to individual schools, and guaranteed resources provided to support basic education.