BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- China spent nearly 3.9 trillion yuan (565.6 billion U.S. dollars) on education in 2016, an increase of 7.57 percent from 2015, according to preliminary statistics released by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

Spending on preschool education reached 280.2 billion yuan, up 15.48 percent from the previous year.

Investment in compulsory education totaled 1.76 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.76 percent year on year. Children in China are entitled to nine years of compulsory education.

Expenditure for high schools was 615.5 billion yuan, an increase of 6.75 percent from 2015, while the figure for higher education exceeded 1 trillion yuan, up 6.22 percent from the previous year.