China Expands Compulsory Education in Rural Areas

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 10, 2002

China Expands Compulsory Education in Rural Areas

The Chinese government will put five billion yuan (US$604.59 million) by the end of 2005 into the second phase of its project to promote the compulsory education, to help students in rural areas have schooling, Ministry of Education sources said in Beijing on Thursday.

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Rural Children with Their Foreign Teachers

The Chinese government will put five billion yuan (US$604.59 million) before the end of 2005 into the second phase of its project to promote the compulsory education to help students in rural areas have schooling, Ministry of Education sources said in Beijing on Thursday.

The project will cover 522 counties in 19 provinces and regions in central and western parts of China, of which 462 are located in western provinces. A total of 124 million people will benefit from the project, including 49 million of ethnic minorities.

The project will also collect local fund totaling 2.25 billion yuan (US$272.07 million) to build or renovate 9,800 primary and middle schools, train 467,000 teachers, and purchase 37,600 sets of equipment, 2.1 million sets of desks and chairs and 24 million books.

The project will help more than 60,000 schools in rural areas set up a computer system. Students from poverty-stricken families will have textbooks free of charge or pay lower tuition.

As China continues its strategy to develop its west, 91.8 per cent of the project's fund will flow into those western areas.

The promotion of compulsory education in rural areas, initiated in 1996, is the largest educational project launched in the country since 1949 when New China was founded.

By the end of 2000, the first phase of the project had cost a total of 12.5 billion yuan (US$15.11 billion), involving 852 county-level places in 22 provinces and regions and 255 million people.

So far, the enrollment rate for primary and junior high schools in central China has risen to 99 per cent and 91 per cent respectively, from an original 97 per cent and 77 per cent.

Among 469 counties in west China, 242 have realized a complete primary education, and 164 have fully accomplished a nine-year primary and junior high schooling.

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