How Educational Policies Can Help Bridge the Urban-Rural Divide

Law and Public Policy

Photograph: Gabriel Poon

The disconnect between bustling cities and rural landscapes is one felt in many countries. With fast-tracked innovation rapidly changing urban life, industrial and farm living are being resisted in less urban environments. In this article, a proposition for a government educational policy to assist in bridging this divide will be set out. The policy would center around an exchange plan, ensuring that children are exposed to ways of living different from their own. The government programme would mandate schools to partner with other schools from different areas to organise student transfers. The requirements would involve all students spending a month living within a community separate from the one they grew up in and participating in community service. Given the limited scope of this essay, this article will only consider the current situations in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to help understand the specific issues this policy would potentially help tackle.

Imagine the scene of rural land stretching for miles, telephone wires suspended like measuring tape. Driving through the vast green fabric of the English countryside, it is impossible to ignore how starkly it contrasts the cobbled clutter of cities like London and their bustling streets. Indeed, the quaint and self-contained villages situated far from busy capitals could not be more different: everyone knows everyone, and anything you need can be found in the local village shop rather than in extensive malls. In the 2016 ‘Brexit’ vote, this difference was crucial. Countryside living often centers around farming and production, making trade a central concern when voting on whether Britain should leave the European Union. And whereas the people living in globalised city centres felt connected to the busy modern world of travel and immigration, those in rural areas felt left behind in the tide of progress. Campaigns centered around this fear, and the divide between the urban and rural became more pronounced. During COVID-19, movement between the cities and countryside became even more halted, and most actual interaction was in the form of richer city dwellers swooping down upon small towns on holiday and bringing rising infection with them.

In Hong Kong, housing can be seen as most starkly representing the urban-rural divide. With one of the highest real estate prices in the world (many locals claim that it takes roughly three generations before one can afford to purchase a flat), Hong Kong currently experiences a great divergence in wealth between its urban and rural populations. While most of the upper-class is concentrated in areas near the city such as The Peak, Mid-Levels and the south, those who are less wealthy usually live in more rural areas such as the New Territories or West Kowloon. With COVID-19, this problem has been exacerbated as the economic recession has sparked unemployment and decreasing incomes. Since most Hong Kong landowners originate from the higher ends of society, housing does not factor into their cost of living. Conversely, because the working classes generally do not own property, they have to resort to renting accommodation. However, many landowners are reluctant to reduce rents as lowering the rent will result in a decrease in the property’s value. This ultimately forced the masses to resort to areas where rent is cheaper - places that are located in more remote and rural areas. However, with a sharp decrease in disposable incomes, households have found it much more difficult to maintain the usual standard of living. This ultimately widened the gap between the rich and poor, worsening income inequality.

Therefore, with this initiative, a newfound awareness of the different ways of life would be fostered amongst the next generation. Rather than only being exposed to farms in caricatured nursery rhymes, children from urban areas would learn about how rural life really functions and the people living in these areas. Moreover, rather than being afraid of global connectivity and development, children from rural areas would be exposed to fast-moving cities and their diverse populations. Our worldview is generally formed in our childhoods, and hence implementing an educational policy would be an incredibly effective way of tackling division. With the disconnect that COVID-19 has caused by halting travel and disbanding communities, connection between the urban and rural populations is more important than ever.