清代是西南地區教育史上承先啟後的重要轉折期。清朝政府對於西南地區實施改土歸流及閉闢苗疆等行政改革後，便積極興辦學校，推廣儒學教育。在化邊疆為內地的政策下，義學的推廣應可視為一項重要的指標。西南地區的一些義學為補地方府、州、縣等儒學之不足而設，部分義學已與舉業結合，亦造就許多少數民族的人才。在偏遠的少數民族地區，經由官方或地方官員捐助等財力的推波助瀾下，使義學能夠較穩定的發展。不過，儘管許多義學為奉旨議准設立，其設置者為府、州、縣等官吏；其受學政管理，館師每歲上報清冊由其進行考核；其經費亦由官方撥給，館師束脩銀由藩庫支領，雖是如此，義學仍未列於正規學制中，亦不屬於官學，至多只是「官辦」而已。義學的設置可分為官辦、官民合辦及私人捐建三種，其經費來源亦因此而有所不同。惟隨著義學的發展，辦學的性質與條件有所轉變，一些官員及地方士紳積極推動設立義學，加速了義學的發展，越來越多的義學屬於官民合辦或私人捐建，義學的經費來源亦趨於多元。再者，在改土歸流期間及咸豐、同治年間從部分鎮壓起事者所沒收的財產，即文獻中所稱之「叛產」、「逆產」中撥出田畝，做為書院、義學的學產學田，則為西南地區義學經費來源的特徵之一。部分義學甚至訂定條規等章程，詳細規定學田收入的管理者、支用對象、金額與其他相關規定，成為義學賡續經營的模式。

Qing Dynasty was a critical juncture in the education history of southwest. After the administrative reform of carrying out Gai-tu-gui-liu(改土歸流) and develop Miao(苗) border in the southwest, the Qing government proactively set up schools and popularize Confucianism's education. Under the policy of turning the border into the hinterland, the popularization of charitable schools can be regarded as an important indicator. Some charitable schools of the southwest were set up in order to mend the deficiencies of Confucianism in the local Fu(府), state, county, etc., other charitable schools were already combined with the imperial examinations and also brought up a lot of ethnic minority talents. In the remote minority area, thanks to the strong supports from government or local officers who offered financial resources, charitable schools could be more steadily developed. Although a lot of charitable schools were set up with government approvals, their establishers were government officials from such places as the Fu, state, county, etc.; the charitable schools were managed by education officials, which examined the detailed lists that the school teachers reported on a yearly basis; funds were allocated from official side also, salaries of school teachers were paid by local finance, although this way, charitable schools were still not listed in the regular education system yet, didn’t belong to the official study and were only ' state-run ' at the most. They were operated by government, joint efforts of government along with civilians and individual donations, whose fund sources were also different to some extent. With the development of charitable schools, nature and condition of running schools were changed in a way, some officers and local gentries actively promoted the set-ups of charitable schools, whose developments were accelerated, more and more charitable schools belonged to joint efforts of government along with civilians or individual donations, the fund sources also tended to be pluralistic. Moreover, during the timeframe of Gai-tu-gui-liu, Xianfeng（咸豐） and Tongzhi（同治）, properties confiscated from some suppressed rebels characterized the fund sources of southwest charitable schools. Some charitable schools even stipulated in detail such provisions as the targets and amounts the administrators of schools properties could manipulate along with other relevant regulations, which became the ways in which charitable schools continuously operated.