(5) Right to education

Citizens' right to education was better guaranteed. The state promulgated the Outline of the State's Medium- and Long-term Program on Education Reform and Development (2010-2020), defining the strategic goal of making China a country rich in human resources by 2020. By the end of 2010, nine-year compulsory education covered 100 percent of the national population: the net enrollment rate of school-age children in elementary schools reached 99.7 percent, the retention rate for students undergoing five years of elementary-school education reached 99 percent, and the gross enrollment rate in junior high schools reached 100 percent. Among new pupils in elementary schools in urban areas, 96.6 percent had received pre-school education, while 90.8 percent of new pupils in rural areas had received it. The illiteracy rate among the population above 15 years of age dropped to 4.08 percent.

Rural education developed more rapidly. In 2010, the state exempted 130 million rural students in compulsory education from paying tuition and miscellaneous fees, and supplied them with free textbooks; exempted boarders from boarding fees, and subsidized about 12.24 million boarders from poor rural families, granting 750 yuan each year to every boarder in elementary schools and 1,000 yuan to every boarder in junior high schools. In 2009, the state expanded the scope of central government-funded special programs for attracting teachers to rural schools in compulsory education to include state-level poor counties in central China, publicly recruiting college graduates to teach in rural schools. By the end of 2010, some 185,000 new teachers went to teach at special posts in rural schools.

Vocational education was boosted. During the two years, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance decided that funding from the central government would be provided to: 960 practical training bases for vocational education, 285 secondary vocational schools for national demonstration of education reform and development, 229 secondary vocational schools with high quality and characteristics, and 100 key vocational colleges. The state built, renovated and expanded teaching, practical training and living facilities measuring 5.23 million sq m for 910 secondary vocational schools, and bought more than 62,000 sets of teaching aids or practical training equipment.

The project of improving and reforming undergraduate teaching at institutions of higher learning was implemented. The state approved 3,453 programs for special undergraduate disciplines, established 3,863 state-level courses, and approved over 16,000 plans for innovative experiments carried out by undergraduates in 120 universities.

After-school education received active support. In 2009 and 2010, the central government used three billion yuan of lottery proceeds to build 600 after-school facilities for minors. The central government subsidized 1,692 after-school facilities, granted 1,092 after-school facilities 600,000 yuan each for equipment purchase and maintenance, and invested 30 million yuan in training managerial personnel and key teachers for after-school activities.

The system of assistance to students with financial difficulties was improved. In September 2010, the state raised government grants to college students with financial difficulties from 2,000 to 3,000 yuan per student per school year. Every year, over 500,000 new students from families with financial difficulties are enrolled in regular institutions of higher learning through "green channels." About 12 million students in secondary vocational schools each receive 1,500 yuan of government grants per year. From the autumn term in 2010, the state established government grants for junior high school students, appropriated 2.25 billion yuan from the central budget, and subsidized 4.79 million students at the rate of 1,500 yuan per student per year.

(6) Cultural rights

The public cultural services system has been improved. By the end of 2010, there were 188.72 million household users of wired radio and cabled television, and 42,000 sets of equipment for mobile projection of digital movies in rural areas, with the goal of one showing every month in each village having been basically realized. Radio and TV broadcasting has been made available in almost all administrative villages and natural villages each with at least 20 households where electricity is available. By the end of 2010, there were 2,885 public libraries, 3,264 art galleries (cultural centers), 2,435 museums, and over 40,000 cultural stations in towns and townships and communities. By the end of 2010, the state had spent over seven billion yuan on the construction of over 300,000 farmers' reading rooms in half of the country's administrative villages. The state spent 5.78 billion yuan on building a five-level national cultural resource sharing network, whose data reached 108 TB and were used by more than 890 million people. The state spent 100 million yuan equipping opera troupes and other grassroots cultural establishments with 330 mobile stages. In 2009 and 2010, the central government allocated four billion yuan as special subsidies for local museums and memorial halls that open to the public free of charge. Throughout the country, 1,749 public museums and memorial halls, and several thousand other kinds of museums, memorial halls and patriotic education bases at all levels are now open to the public free of charge.

The state has formulated the Culture Industry Revitalization Plan and Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Prosperity and Development of the Film Industry. In 2010, mid- and long-term renminbi and foreign currency loans to the cultural sector grew by 27.6 billion yuan, while cultural enterprises raised 10.4 billion yuan on the stock market.

Efforts for the protection of intellectual property rights were intensified. In 2009 and 2010, the state revised the Copyright Law, the Patent Law and the Regulations on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, and promulgated the Interim Measures for the Payment of Remuneration for Audio Products Played by Radio and TV Stations. In 2010, the State Council carried out a special campaign against all infringements of IPR and the production and sale of counterfeit and shoddy products; the Ministry of Culture launched a special campaign against piracy of online games; the National Copyright Administration carried out special campaigns to advocate the use of authorized software and to combat IPR infringements and piracy. In 2009 and 2010, throughout the country 2,014 cases involving patent infringement were accepted and heard in court, and over 100,000 cases of trademark infringement were investigated and dealt with. Departments of cultural administration and related law-enforcement authorities dispatched 16.5 million staff members who instructed business entities to make about 510,000 rectifications, and revoked the licenses of 7,058 entities.