The Chinese government will put five billion yuan (US$603.89
million) before the end of 2005 into the second phase of its
project to promote compulsory education, to help students in rural
areas have schooling, Ministry of Education sources said in Beijing
on Thursday.
The project will cover 522 county-level places in 19 provinces and
regions in central and western parts of China, 462 of these in the
west. A total of 124 million people will benefit from the project,
among them 49 million of minority ethnic groups.
The project will also collect local funds totaling 2.25 billion
yuan (US$271.75 million), to build and renovate 9,800 primary and
middle schools, train 467,000 teachers, and purchase 37,600 sets of
equipment, 2.1 million sets of desks and chairs and 24 million
books.
The project will help more than 60,000 schools in rural areas set
up a computer system. Students from poverty-stricken families will
have textbooks free of charge or pay lower tuition fees.
As
China continues its strategy to develop its west, 91.8 percent of
the project's funds will flow into those western areas being
developed.
The promotion of compulsory education in rural areas, initiated in
1996, is the largest educational project launched in the country
since 1949 when New China was founded. By the end of 2000, the
first phase of the project had cost a total of 12.5 billion yuan
(US$1.51 billion), involving 852 county-level places in 22
provinces and regions and 255 million people.
So
far, enrollment rates for primary and junior high schools in
central China have risen to 99 percent and 91 percent respectively,
from an original 97 percent and 77 percent. Among 469 county-level
units in west China, 242 have popularized primary education, and
164 have popularized nine-year primary and junior high
schooling.
(
May 10, 2002)