¡¡ China's Tibet Autonomous Region plans to make nine-year compulsory education universal and to eliminate illiteracy basically among the young and middle-aged over the next decade.

¡¡ The goal has two phases, according to a report at a recent regional conference on education. First, Tibet will increase its six-year compulsory education and 90 percent of the school-age children will be in school by 2003. By then, more than 35 percent of the teenagers will have access to middle schools and the rate of illiteracy among the young and middle-aged will be down to 30 percent.

¡¡ There will also be an effort to improve the quality of teachers.

¡¡ Before the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, Tibet had practically no modern schools and its illiteracy rate was as high as 97 percent. It now has over 4,000 schools of various types, and 17 counties have popularized the six-year compulsory education, involving 680,000 people, or 28 percent of the autonomous region's population. And, 83.4 percent of the school-age children are now in school. The illiteracy rate has been dropping every year. (Xinhua)