China will fully popularize nine-year compulsory education in
five years or during its
11th Five-Year Guidelines period for national economic and
social development (2006-2010).
Chinese Minister of Education Zhou Ji made the remarks Tuesday
at a press conference called by the State Council Information
Office.
Zhou noted that in the five-year period China will increase the
enrollment rate of Chinese senior secondary education and higher
education to 80 percent and 25 percent respectively. In the
meantime China would also expand its secondary vocational education
to around the size of its general secondary education.
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According to Zhou, China had 23 million students in its
institutions of higher learning by the end of 2005. And the gross
enrollment rate of higher education institutions in China reached
21 percent last year -- an 8.5 percent increase of that of
2000.
The increase marked a steady and encouraging growth in China's
higher education, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2006)