China's Primary Schools Fall to 128,300 as Enrollment Drops 4.06 Million

China had 128,300 regular primary schools in 2025, along with 42,300 primary-level teaching points not counted as separate schools, according to the 2025 national education development statistics bulletin. Primary education enrolled 14.6174 million students, with 101.7829 million enrolled and 18.6051 million graduating.

In 2024, China had 136,300 regular primary schools and 52,200 teaching points not counted as separate schools. Primary schools enrolled 16.1663 million students, with 105.8437 million enrolled and 18.5727 million graduating. Compared with 2024, the number of regular primary schools fell by 8,000 in 2025, teaching points not counted as separate schools fell by 9,900, and primary enrollment fell by 4.0608 million. Compared with 158,000 schools in 2020, the number of regular primary schools has fallen by 29,700 over five years.

On demographics, the primary school enrollment cohort peaked in 2023, while the junior secondary cohort is expected to peak in 2026. As new urbanization accelerates, rural populations continue to move to and gather in cities and towns. Some rural public primary and secondary schools have been merged or closed because of declining student numbers and school network adjustments, leaving idle school buildings. Many localities are promoting the repurposing of idle school buildings, with a considerable share of idle primary schools converted into nursing homes, elderly care centers and canteens for the elderly.

In Junzijian village, Shanyang county, Shaanxi province, the long-idle Junzijian Primary School has been converted into a nursing home for the elderly. In Nanping, Fujian province, as of the autumn of 2025, the city had 601 idle school buildings, of which 196 were covered by restricted trusteeship agreements signed with local governments and 274 were managed by village collectives. Among the buildings already repurposed, 20 are used for public welfare, including nursing homes, welfare institutions and canteens for the elderly; 17 have been converted into enterprise workshops, including a Shaowu chemical plant and a Wuyishan tea factory; and four are used for cultural tourism projects, including sketching bases and family farms.

In May 2026, the Hunan Provincial Department of Education and eight other departments issued a notice on the repurposing of idle rural primary and secondary school campuses and buildings. The notice proposed using about three years to advance the work through categorized disposal and phased implementation. It called for the reasonable selection of repurposing methods, including priority use for education, service to rural public welfare, service to collective economic development, service to county-level economic development, comprehensive renovation and development, protection of historic old schools, demolition of old schools with safety hazards, and other repurposing methods. In Miluo, Hunan, some village primary school buildings left idle for years by the consolidation of education resources have been repurposed, with some used for ginger-salt sesame bean tea-related purposes, some for elderly care services and some for the new energy industry.

In Yongren, Yunnan province, the county has adopted an eight-conversion model for repurposing idle school buildings, using precise surveys, categorized renovation and professional operation to put old school buildings to use for public services, industry and grassroots governance. Of the county's 118 idle school buildings, 100 have now been repurposed, an activation rate of 84.7%, saving a cumulative RMB 91.6 million in new construction funds.