Education investment hiked
The Chinese Premier announced a hefty educational investment plan of the
year, making education a "strategic priority".
A total of 85.85 billion yuan (11 billion U.S. dollars) will be allocated
from the central budget this year, an increase of 41.7 percent over the previous
year, government statistics show.
Part of the central educational fund will be used to grant more poor students
the access to education, said Wen .
"This is another major move we are taking to promote fairness in education
following the exemption of all tuition and miscellaneous fees for rural students
receiving compulsory education," said the premier.
A system of national scholarships and tuition assistance will go into
operation this semester, which starts in early March, for regular undergraduate
institutions, vocational colleges and secondary vocational schools, said the
premier.
Funds appropriated for this purpose by the central government will be 9.5
billion yuan (1.22 billion U.S. dollars) this year and 20 billion yuan (2.56
billion U.S. dollars) next year, and local governments should allocate
corresponding amounts from local budgets.
"Education is the bedrock of China's development, and fairness in education
is an important form of social fairness," said Wen. " We need to make education
a strategic priority and accelerate the development of all types of education at
all levels."
The country will further implement the state student loan system that was
introduced in 1999 in eight major cities including Beijing and Shanghai and was
extended to the rest of the country in 2004.
In China, some families have to pay 8,000 yuan (976 U.S. dollars) every year
to support a college student. Such a figure might be years of income for a
farmer.
In another major move highlighted in the government work report, Wen said the
country will grant free education for students majoring in education in teacher
colleges.
"The move is to show respect for teachers and education in society and to
produce larger numbers of outstanding teachers," said the premier, adding the
new policy is "to encourage prominent educators to run schools and more
outstanding young people to become lifelong educators."
Chinese schools, especially rural village schools, lack sufficient and
qualified teachers, despite increasing investment from the government.
At present, many primary and middle schools are still short of teachers
specializing in foreign languages, information technology, music, fine arts and
physical education.
