In the 1990s, he says, shoddy school buildings were erected across China because of the government's drive to provide enough classrooms for all children to undergo nine years of compulsory education.

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It has not come close to meeting the demands of a compulsory education law introduced in 1986 that required local governments to ensure that all children receive nine years of free education.

ECONOMIST: China: Chaos in the classrooms | The

No less than 100% of children, for instance, are getting the supposedly compulsory nine years' education.

ECONOMIST: China