Premier Zhu Rongji said in Beijing today that the strategy of developing China through science and education and the strategy of sustainable growth should be vigorously followed in promoting economic restructuring, enhancing the overall quality of the economy and furthering coordinated economic and social development.

At the opening meeting of the Third Session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) today, Zhu said great efforts should be made to develop and spread the use of high and new technology that can play a crucial role in upgrading our traditional industries and can be widely applied.

The application of high and new technology to production should be stepped up, with efforts focused on creating a number of internationally competitive products and supporting enterprises which apply high and new technology, he noted.

The premier urged workers engaged in the fields of philosophy and social sciences to carefully study the major theoretical and practical problems arising in the process of reform and opening up and modernization drive in order to better serve the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

On education sector, he acknowledged, all types of schools at all levels should work to improve the overall quality of their students, strengthen their moral education, help them develop practical abilities and a spirit of innovation, and effectively reduce homework assignments for primary and secondary school students to guarantee that they improve in terms of their moral, intellectuals and fitness level as well as in their appreciation of aesthetics.

Goals in the effort to make nine-year compulsory education basically universal in the country and to eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged people should be attained on schedule, Zhu said.

Last year, university and college enrollment rose by 47.4 percent over the previous year, the biggest increase in years. He said that enrollment in institutions of higher learning should be increased, and the practical problems of student dormitories, cafeterias and teaching facilities should be resolved by gradually making such services independent in their operation. Personal loans to finance education should be vigorously promoted. On the reform of the management system for education, he said that except for the Ministry of Education and a small number of special departments, departments under the State Council will no longer directly manage schools in an effort to form a new system under which schools are run by governments at both the central and provincial levels, with most schools managed by local governments. Effective policy measures should be taken to encourage and attract students studying overseas and outstanding personnel residing abroad to come home to work in China, he added. Meanwhile, he said, "We should continue to follow a path of sustainable development. We should further strengthen family planning, striving to stabilize the low birth rate and promote good prenatal and postnatal care, and devoting strong efforts to the management of family planning and related services in rural areas and among the floating population."

Moreover, efforts to bring urban environmental pollution under control should be intensified, focusing on projects to prevent and control environmental pollution in major cities, valleys, regions and coastal areas and striving to achieve the goals set for environmental protection and pollution control. Urban and rural areas should be properly planned.

The management of natural resources should be strengthened, and efforts should be made to protect and make rational use of land, forest, grassland, mineral, marine and water resources in accordance with the law.

Work in public health and sports should be further improved with close attention paid to disease prevention and control, strengthening urban community health services and rural primary health care, and raising the overall physical fitness level of the public, the premier said.