1. Introduction

Education is a basic human right in modern society and the basis of an equitable society [1]. Education is important in cultivating talents and increasing national soft power, especially in accelerating globalization. The demand for high-quality education is gradually growing, and promoting education modernization and equity is imperative. Since entering the 21st century, China's comprehensive national strength has improved rapidly, and education information is also constantly advancing. However, in the process of educational reform, the problem of educational inequality has become increasingly apparent due to issues such as the allocation, investment, reform efforts, and natural environment of educational resources [2]. Many factors lead to educational inequality, related to political, economic, social, cultural, and institutional factors [3].

Educational equity refers to the ability of everyone to have equal opportunities and resources to receive education, without being influenced by external factors.

The main manifestation of educational equity lies in equitable access to education at the beginning, equal opportunities throughout the educational journey, and just distribution of educational achievements are crucial aspects. Moreover, ensuring educational equity serves as a fundamental pillar for achieving social equity, which is of great significance in reducing social inequality, improving individual comprehensive quality and ability, and achieving social justice and equality. Education plays a crucial role in the growth of individuals and society. Through education, individuals can cultivate skills, and realize their dreams, and values. Society cultivates various talents through education and promotes social progress. Therefore, improving the quality of education and promoting educational equity are of utmost importance.

To achieve educational equity, joint efforts from the government, schools, families, and society are needed to narrow the urban-rural and regional gap, increase education investment in impoverished areas, balance teaching staff, improve teaching environment, break down identity barriers, and improve the efficiency of educational resource allocation. Based on this, this study mainly discusses the reasons that lead to educational inequality and imbalance, presents efficient strategies for enhancing the distribution of educational resources in less developed regions and promotes educational equity.

2. Specific Manifestations of the Impact of Regional Differences on Educational Equity

In the past few years, it has become increasingly prevalent to observe an imbalanced allocation of educational resources in China due to its rapid economic growth. The distribution of educational resources between developed and underdeveloped areas, as well as between urban and rural areas, is unreasonable, including significant differences in education funds, teaching staff, and educational opportunities. This leads to significant differences in the progress of educational systems across various geographical areas, ultimately resulting in educational inequality [4].

2.1. Hardware Environment Facilities

The equal allocation of educational resources plays a crucial role in ensuring the well-rounded progress of education. The investment in resource allocation has been extensively laid out and implemented during the period of mandatory schooling, with a coverage rate of over 80%. However, the imbalance in the allocation of resources for mandatory education between schools in the same region, between cities and rural areas, and in the area spanning from the East to the West still exists and is prominent [5].

In terms of materials, teaching equipment such as multimedia, laboratories, libraries, computer rooms, and even sports equipment.

The configuration of developed areas is relatively complete, while underdeveloped areas and rural areas are relatively scarce due to multiple reasons such as geography and economy, which leads to students being unable to obtain more cutting-edge knowledge and enjoy information technology education. Over time, the development of education between different regions will be imbalanced, ultimately leading to educational inequality.

2.2. Teacher Environment

The distribution of teacher resources is also a very important part. As frontline personnel in educational development, teachers directly interact with students, teach courses, and play a guiding role in students. The level of teacher teaching ability, the diversity of teaching, and the diversity of teaching content all affect the growth and development of students.

In first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, there are abundant teacher resources with high quality. However, in underdeveloped areas and rural areas, there is a shortage of teacher resources and high mobility, even leading to the phenomenon of multiple positions, which makes it challenging for students to derive pleasure from top-notch courses and is not conducive to their academic performance and future life development. The difference in educational quality will directly limit the development of education and lead to educational inequality. It is crucial to ensure the number of teachers, a uniform distribution of teachers, and excellent teacher resources.

2.3. Educational Opportunities

According to the data in Table 1 of the Seventh National Population Census Bulletin (No. 6), the proportion of people receiving higher education in Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin is much higher than the national average. The proportion of people receiving higher education in Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang is still far from the national average.

Table 1: Number of people with various levels of education per 100000 population in each region [3]. (Unit: person/100000 people)

According to the data in Table 2, the average length of schooling in Guizhou, Yunnan, Xizang, Qinghai, and other places in 2020 has not reached 9 years. The average length of education is calculated by converting various levels of education into the average length of education. The specific conversion criteria are primary school years, middle school years, high school=12 years, and college and above=16 years [3].

In short, the nine-year compulsory education compulsory by the state for school-age students has not been fully implemented, but in 10 years, the average length of schooling in these areas has increased by at least one year. The average data of Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, the top three positions nationwide are occupied by the three municipalities directly under the central government.

Table 2: Average years of education for the population aged 15 and above in various regions [3].

By analyzing two sets of data, it can be concluded that Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin rank among the top in terms of compulsory education and higher education in China, far exceeding other regions. This to some extent indicates that the education level in these three regions is very high, and in underdeveloped areas, it is impossible to ensure that students can complete basic education. Unequal educational opportunities directly affect the proportion of people receiving higher education in the local area. In other words, if basic education cannot be implemented effectively and students cannot enjoy equal educational opportunities, it is not possible to enhance the ratio of higher education, the local education level cannot be improved, and the gap between education development and developed cities is becoming increasingly large, ultimately leading to restrictions on the economic and cultural development of cities.

3. Reasons for Educational Disparities in Different Regions

As far as China is concerned, the educational development and the distribution of resources varies across various regions, including urban and rural areas, as well as among schools within the same region, with significant disparities in educational levels. The main reasons that affect educational equity are as follows.

3.1. The Influence of Natural Environment and Objective Factors

Natural environment and objective factors have a significant impact on the fair development of education, such as geographical location, transportation, climate environment, etc., which directly affect the fair development of education [6].

In areas with complex terrain and underdeveloped transportation, such as mountainous areas and high-altitude areas, students may have to spend more time and energy on education, which may result in some students not having access to education opportunities. In other words, inadequate implementation of basic education can exacerbate educational inequality. In addition, underdeveloped transportation also limits the balanced distribution of educational resources. Due to inconvenient geographical locations and transportation, relevant educational facilities cannot reach these areas, resulting in the inability to guarantee the quality of education. Moreover, such an environment cannot attract excellent teacher resources, exacerbating the uneven development gap between remote and developed areas in education.

3.2. Uneven Economic Development and Different Fiscal Inputs

The uneven economic development among different regions leads to different financial investments in education, which in turn affects the allocation of educational resources. Economically developed regions often invest more in education, providing more advanced and comprehensive teaching equipment, as well as high-quality teaching teams. However, economically underdeveloped areas are facing the issue of inadequate educational resources underqualified teaching personnel, and low teaching quality. This difference leads to unequal treatment of students in different regions when receiving education.

3.3. Unequal Distribution of Educational Resources

The equitable provision of educational resources is a crucial determinant in ensuring educational fairness. There exists a noticeable disparity in the distribution of educational resources across different regions, including urban and rural areas, as well as among schools within China. This significantly hampers the equitable progress of education. When choosing a career, teachers will prioritize areas with good economic development. A high-quality teaching team can provide students with high-quality education and facilitate the advancement of educational growth. In economically underdeveloped areas, due to regional economic limitations, it is difficult to allure and maintain exceptional educators in terms of salary and benefits, social resources, living conditions, etc., resulting in an imbalance in the teaching staff. As frontline educators, teachers directly affect the development of education.

3.4. Differences in Educational Concepts

Cultural beliefs and social awareness are also factors that affect educational equity. In some regions, traditional social awareness leads to a low level of emphasis on education or insufficient investment and attention to education. This may lead to wastage and uneven distribution of educational resources, thereby affecting the achievement of educational equity. For example, in remote rural areas, due to educational concepts and family economic conditions, many left-behind children are raised by the elderly. These guardians lack an understanding of modern education and cannot establish correct educational awareness for children, which does not promote the progress of educational growth in children [7].

4. Strategies to Promote Educational Equity

The unfairness and uneven development of education are inevitable objective facts, but educational equity is a problem that must be improved [8]. Educational equity is constrained by geographical location, natural environment, economic factors, etc., and educational development is the foundation for promoting future regional economy, culture, etc. The negative impact caused by educational inequality is a vicious cycle that is not conducive to the long-term development of regions and countries. It is necessary to pay attention to the impact of this situation, take active action, and solve problems step by step with scientific, reasonable, and effective methods. Narrowing the gap in educational development among different regions and ultimately achieving maximum educational equity. Based on the above analysis, the researchers propose the following countermeasures.

4.1. Improve Current Policies

Only based on a fair distribution of educational resources can people further promote educational equity [8]. By reforming the education system and mechanisms, it can break the unfair phenomena in traditional education. The government should formulate comprehensive and balanced education policies, strengthen investment in education, support underdeveloped areas, rural areas, and other areas, increase efforts to actively implement nine-year compulsory education, ensure sufficient and reasonable allocation of resources for education, and guarantee the ability of every student receive compulsory education equally, improve their educational opportunities, and gradually narrow the education gap with developed areas.

The government and schools should maintain close contact and communication, establish a sound regulatory and evaluation mechanism, strengthen the regular evaluation of teaching quality supervision in schools, make the evaluation results public, and promote the high-quality and fair development of education.

For students from poor families, the government should provide sufficient educational assistance to ensure that they do not lose the opportunity to receive education due to economic reasons. In addition, the system of scholarships, scholarships, and other financial aid should be improved to encourage outstanding students to study hard.

4.2. Education Poverty Alleviation Weakens the Wealth Gap between Regions

Another factor that determines social equity is modern economic development. The wealth gap not only refers to narrowing the income gap among residents but also to the gap in education development. Only by continuously narrowing the gap can the problem of unfair education investment be maximally avoided [8].

By optimizing industrial layout, promoting industrial upgrading, and strengthening regional cooperation, it can promote the economic development of impoverished areas, improve the income level of residents, and fundamentally improve educational conditions.

Establish a special education fund to support students from impoverished areas in completing their studies. At the same time, encourage social forces to participate and form a diversified education aid system.

Make education poverty alleviation an important part of poverty reduction work, and formulate specific policy measures, such as providing scholarships and financial aid to impoverished students, reducing tuition, and living expenses, etc., to alleviate their economic burden. At the same time, it also guarantees people's right to education [9].

When designing and implementing the financial aid system, to avoid the waste and loss of funds, the school should accurately verify the situation of students [10].

Reducing the economic development gap between the eastern and western regions, as well as between urban and rural areas, promoting coordinated economic development between regions, and narrowing the income distribution gap between regions, is a necessary way to address educational inequality between regions. Solving the uneven development of the regional economy is a long process that requires the joint efforts of the government and all sectors of society.

4.3. Enhance the Distribution Framework of Educational Resources

Enhancing the distribution of educational resources is crucial for attaining educational fairness. The government should establish a scientific mechanism for allocating educational resources, fully considering the actual needs of different regions and schools, and guaranteeing the equitable distribution of educational resources. Scientifically and reasonably allocate educational resources. The education department should adopt multiple allocation methods when allocating resources, and scientifically allocate them according to the current education situation in different regions.

At the same time, social forces should be encouraged to participate in the education industry and broaden the channels for educational resource sources. The teacher rotation system is an effective way to facilitate the equitable allocation of educational resources. By advocating for the adoption of a system that encourages teacher rotation, it can achieve the sharing of excellent teachers and improve the teaching quality of weak schools. The government should introduce relevant policies to clarify the timing, location, and benefits of job rotation, ensuring the smooth implementation of the job rotation system. For educational resources, a policy of 100% quota implementation should be implemented to ensure fair distribution and implementation of educational resources and to avoid resource waste.

In addition, people should promote the diversification of educational channels, establish a complete online education platform, and use educational information to facilitate equitable advancement in the field of education.

The government should increase its support for online education and facilitate the advancement and application of superior online course materials. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of online education platforms to ensure their legal and compliant operation. This can provide more convenient educational methods for schools in underdeveloped areas.

4.4. Strengthening Educational Concepts

The government can promote the importance of education by issuing documents to local education departments, schools, villages, and towns, or through media, breaking traditional beliefs and actively encouraging people to accept new educational concepts, so that society and parents can realize the meaning and importance of education.

Secondly, supporting intelligence is also an important measure to change people's quality through education, fundamentally making people aware of the necessity of education.

Ultimately, fostering collaboration between parents and schools, as well as implementing mixed-gender education, serves as a crucial means to enhance the holistic growth of students. The government should introduce relevant policies to encourage and support schools to strengthen communication and cooperation with parents, and jointly pay attention to the growth and development of students. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the education and training of parents, improve their educational literacy and abilities, and promote the effective connection between family education and school education.

5. Conclusion

This article analyzes that many factors cause educational inequality, and they interact with each other. Over time, such a detrimental cycle will hinder the progress of the nation, society, and individuals.

This article analyzes that educational inequality is mainly reflected in the uneven distribution of educational resources and uneven economic development. There are significant disparities in education investment between different regions, such as the eastern and western regions, cities, and rural areas. The economic development gap directly affects education investment and seriously restricts the progress of educational advancement in less developed regions.

Educational equity needs to be continuously improved and perfected according to the needs of social development and the actual situation in educational development, optimizing educational policies and actively implementing policies to ensure the continuous promotion of educational equity.

In summary, achieving educational equity, improving educational policies, narrowing educational disparities, and promoting educational equity are long-term and arduous tasks [2].

To truly achieve educational equity, requires the joint efforts of the government, schools, and society to form a joint force. Only by continuously increasing investment, optimizing resource allocation, and promoting reform and innovation can China gradually narrow the education gap and achieve the goal of educational equity. Only by achieving educational equity can China ensure the stability of social order, achieve social equity, and facilitate the holistic growth of students.