context: China’s total investment in education exceeds C¥6.4 tn in 2023, while the proportion of fiscal education expenditure to GDP also fell to 4.001 percent, approaching the 4 percent ‘red line’ threshold below the world average of 4.3 percent and OECD average of 4.9 percent. Despite the need to maintain a stable education-to-GDP ratio, the provincial audit highlights the pressing need for stricter regulation of education fund usage.
The 2023 national audit report brought attention to misappropriation of nutritious meal fund in rural areas and the provincial report reveals specifics in each region
- Hunan
- C¥17.1 million falsely claimed subsidies through inflated meal day reports
- C¥6.1 million misappropriated for staff welfare via falsified purchases
- C¥3.2 million diverted for cafeteria staff salaries
- delayed allocation of C¥22.7 million in subsidies
- C¥11.3 million non-compliant bulk food procurement
- Shaanxi
- C¥2.8 million falsely claimed through inflated student numbers
- delayed allocation of C¥7.8 million in subsidies
- C¥38.8 million illegally transferred to school accounts
- additional findings
- failure to provide nutritious mid-day meals, misusing C¥28.6 million in four counties
- three companies colluded to win C¥11.3 million in catering contracts
- 168 schools provided unhealthy foods, misusing C¥14.2 million
- five companies misused C¥1.9 million for non-compliant food supply
Some provinces are facing significant issues with education funding,
- Yunnan
- C¥641 million in education funds not utilised
- failed to continuously increase general public budget for education and per-student expenditure
- C¥1.1 bn embezzled, leading to
- insufficient funding in 56 schools
- delays in 17 construction projects
- 308 kindergartens missed subsidies
- 115,000 students missed financial aid
- Hainan
- C¥193 of the C¥1.6 bn in special education funds unspent due to poor oversight
- used to balance budgets instead of rolling over to 2024
- C¥193 of the C¥1.6 bn in special education funds unspent due to poor oversight
- Shandong
- C¥22.8 million in private-school subsidies not used for tuition reduction as required
- C¥23.7 million misused for staff salaries and digitalisation
- primary and secondary education sector
- 99 schools in 18 counties were not aligned with nearby residential planning, causing a school place shortage
- two private schools illegally enrolled over 500 students using false qualifications, and 62 schools had poor cafeteria procurement management
- vocational education
- C¥1.0 million in charging illegal training fees
- C¥7.8 million in idle funds
- Shaanxi
- C¥1.7 bn for urban and rural education misused
- Guangdong
- illegal school construction approvals
- oversized classes
- poor management of ideological education
- many schools lack teachers and hold inappropriate books
Some provincial audits have identified issues in the management and use of funds for higher education development
- Jilin
- inadequate implementation of student aid policies
- two universities failed to assist 888 needy students
- C¥35.1 million in aid funds not properly allocated
- six universities lacked mechanism to stabilise cafeteria prices
- poor financial management
- delayed or incomplete construction and research projects
- inadequate implementation of student aid policies
- Guangdong
- failure to meet basic teaching standards in five universities
- inadequate implementation of student aid policies
- inadequate student aid for 4,213 students, short of C¥6.8 million
- underpaid C¥1.7 million in 34,900 students’ work-study compensation
- misappropriation of C¥6.8 million in aid and internship funds
- misappropriation of C¥6.8 million in aid and internship funds
- misused research fund
- improper talents management
- Zhejiang
- incomplete key curriculum development and reform
- overspent C¥3.9 million in research fund
- weak construction management and circumvention of public bidding process