What's the current situation? Is the Government doing anything?

In order to put this all into context, here's a brief summary of the current educational situation in the countryside.

-Many of the teachers in the countryside are uncertified, meaning that they did not pass the Mandarin Chinese test. This is because these teachers only learned their local dialects.
-The Chinese Government is preparing to replace all 300,000 uncertified teachers. Considering that uncertified teachers can account for almost half of the teachers in certain rural areas, this will adversely impact the schools.
-Many local governments do not have the money to renovate schools or pay certified teachers.
-Rural areas don't attract certified teachers because of harsh working conditions and low salaries.
-The rural schools are allocated fewer resources than urban schools. As a result, many students do not have access to technology and proper learning resources.

Is the Government doing anything??

In fact, the Chinese Government is actually trying to close the gap between urban education and rural education. In 2006,the revision of the Compulsory Education Law began. The main reason for the revisions? Narrowing the disparity between the rural and urban areas. First, the revisions call for the abolishment of Key Classes and Schools. In China, certain school are designated with the "Key" label. It means that this school is for the elite minority of students, the cream of the crop. Being a Key School means that the government allocates more funds and resources to these schools. The obvious downside is that equality ceases to exist. Other schools that should be given the same funds and resources are neglected. Prime examples of these types of schools include many of the rural schools. By abolishing this system, the Government forces itself to treat all schools equally.
The second revision aims to create more Government investment in education. A study done in 2001 revealed that the central government spent only one fiftieth of its investment on compulsory education in rural areas. Furthermore, the appropriations from the central government represents a mere 11% of the national expenditure on compulsory education. At the end of 2004, primary schools in 163 counties and secondary schools in 142 counties were not receiving funds from the government. Instead, they had to find other sources of funds. Clearly, the government has not been making enough of an effort to educate China's children. Hopefully the government will be able to implement changes that can improve the system.