TITLE:
Research on the Path of Revitalization and Utilization of Idle School Buildings in China’s Rural Areas
AUTHORS:
Ming Xu, Shirui Hong, Xianbo Wei, Dongni Cao
KEYWORDS:
Rural Idle School Buildings, Revitalization, Rural Revitalization, Path Optimization, Resource Allocation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.13 No.12,
December
17,
2025
ABSTRACT: With the deepening of new urbanization and rural revitalization, the migration of rural school-age populations to cities has led to a large number of idle rural primary and secondary school buildings—featuring enormous scale, wide distribution, and low utilization. Based on resource regeneration and social ecology theories, this study adopts literature review and case analysis to explore their revitalization. Key issues include resource waste, demand mismatch, incomplete revitalization mechanisms, insufficient supporting measures, and lack of stakeholder coordination. To address these, a tripartite collaborative path is proposed: governments should improve specialized planning and standards, enhance fiscal and policy support, and strengthen supervision; the market should attract social capital, expand diversified utilization formats, and establish market-oriented operational mechanisms; rural stakeholders should boost participation awareness, tap local cultural resources, and cultivate local management capabilities. This transformation of “dormant assets” into “vibrant resources” will inject new momentum into rural revitalization.