Yunnan Aids Border Area PupilsGovernment of southwest China's Yunnan Province has made an financial-aid plan to provide 18 million yuan (2.16 million US dollars) per year as tuition for 120, 000 poverty-stricken pupils.These primary school students are living in 123 villages and townships of 25 counties bordering Vietnam, Laos and Burma. In the new semester this year, each of the students received 150 yuan aid from the provincial government as education tuition and fees on books and studying utensils. A local educational official said that the plan aims at helping the poverty-stricken students, especially ethnic pupils living in border areas, complete the country's nine-year compulsory education. The provincial government has set up a special education fund in 1996, which offers 2.55 million yuan annually to poverty- stricken students in border counties, according to the official. The province's border line totals 4,060 km long. Thanks to the effort of local educational departments, 99 percent of the school- aged children in the border areas can now attend school, he added. |
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