Investigating The Aged Education In Guangzhou From The Perspective Of Social Governance

It's universally acknowledged that China is now an aging society,and appears “growing old before getting rich”,which would exert profound influence in the process of socialist modernization.The issue of education of the elderly population has attracted wide attention from various stakeholders in the society.The Communist Party of China(CPC)and the central government have paid great attention to the issue.The 18 th CPC National Congress pointed out to improve the lifelong education system,construct the learning-oriented society,actively respond to the aging of the population and vigorously develop the service and industry for the senior citizen.The 19 th CPC National Congress also pointed out to accelerate the construction of the learning-oriented society and promote people's quality.General Office of the State Council has launched the plan for the development of education for the aged(2016-2020).The aging education is an important part of the national education.Its development is a necessary measure to deal with the aging population,meet the need to receive education for the senior citizens,elevate their life quality and achieve social harmony.However,there are some problems with the aging education which cannot be solved from the traditional educational approach.On the basis of social governance since the 18 th CPC National Congress,the 19 th CPC National Congress requires to develop a new model of social governance based on collaboration,co-governance,and common gains,which is necessary to build a prosperous society.The speech delivered by President Xi in 2018 in Guangdong delegation has set clear goals on the way to building the new social governance model.As a kind of quasi-public goods,the governance of the aging education is an important part of social governance.This study tries to investigate the problem from the angle of social governance.By disclosing the problems in the present aging education and proposing solutions,results of the present research would extend the theory of social governance and provide a reference for other research.Drawing on the theories of social governance and public goods,the thesis investigates into the present status of aged education,with the example of Guangzhou.A couple of methods have been adopted including literature review,survey and interview.Four major problems have been identified: a lack of the system of legistrative protection and a malfunction of government supervision;a lack of supply in the market of the aged education and an unbalanced distribution of such supply;an insufficiency in the investment from different stake-holders at large;and a passive role played by senior citizens and practitioners.The root causes lie in the fields of the thinking mode,market allocation,institutional mechanism and financial investment.In view of experience of developing the aged education at home and abroad,five suggestions are thus proposed such as providing equal opportunities for the aged to receive education,promoting the awareness of the aged education and guiding participation from various stake-holders,constructing the network of multiple governance,bettering the mechanism of aged education by improving the rules and regulations,and strengthening the supply of the aged education and elevating its quality.The present study would provide useful reference to the development of aged education in other mainland cities,and promote healthy development of the aging society.To conclude,the study researches into the issue of aging education from the angle of social governance,which is a breakthrough compared with the traditional educational approach.These results could serve as a useful reference for the research on other cities.