China realizes balanced compulsory education in county-level regions: official

BEIJING, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- China has managed to ensure that all its 2,895 county-level regions are covered by quality compulsory education in a balanced way, Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng announced Thursday.

This achievement means that people's basic need of "having access to schools" has been satisfied, Huai told a press conference.

China has completed building the world's largest education system of quality, he said. Compulsory education involves primary schools and middle schools.

Concerning preschool education, the gross enrollment rate reached 91.1 percent at the end of last year, an increase of 26.6 percentage points from 2012, according to the minister.