Education in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has prospered in recent years.

Xinjiang is home to dozen minority ethnic groups totaling 10 million people, 59 percent of the region's total population.

There are 1.73 million herdsmen living in remote pastoral areas who are now paying more attention to education. Pastoral counties have set up many mobile learning centers and 418 boarding schools, providing education for children from herdsmen families, an official said. There are now 123,000 students studying in these schools, 4.8 percent of the total ethnic students in the region.

Education in other parts of Xinjiang has also improved. More than 2.5 million ethnic students are studying in primary schools, high schools, colleges and universities, making up 64.6 percent of all students in Xinjiang.

Over the past 20 years, 57,000 ethnic students in Xinjiang have graduated from colleges and universities while 135,000 have received high school education. The official said that students are now playing important roles in the region's economy and culture.

Xinjiang also set up 37 normal colleges and dozens of teachers training centers for thousands of teaching professionals. Junior high schools will offer a variety of language courses.

The Department of Education in Xinjiang is devoted to improving the overall quality of languages among students in both standard Chinese and other ethnic languages. "The government of Xinjiang has always given preference to ethnic education," the official emphasized.

By the end of 1998, over 1,000 teaching materials in ethnic languages were published as part of the country's nine-year compulsory education system.

To provide ethnic students a better studying environment, the region has invested a large amount of money in building schools and teaching facilities.