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More teachers willing to work in rural schools as conditions improve

By Zhang Zhihao (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-08-31 19:30

Increasing numbers of teachers in urban areas are now willing to work in rural regions, as living benefits and teaching conditions improve, said Wang Dinghua, head of the Teacher's Work Division of the Ministry of Education.

For years, teachers in rural regions have been underfunded, underappreciated and undereducated. In 2013, more than 66 percent of village teachers in China wished to teach in the city, according to a survey conducted by the Institution of Rural Education at Northeast Normal University.

Now, the situation has changed.

In June last year, China's State Council published its five-year plan to improve rural education by attracting well-educated teachers from cities, providing more benefits for teachers in rural regions and pumping more resources to schools in such areas.

Since then, China has spent 5.3 billion yuan ($800 million) on subsidizing more than 1 million teachers in 600 contiguous disadvantaged areas. Teachers received an average of 300 yuan, with some receiving more than 1,000 yuan, according to the Ministry of Education.

Jizhong district in Shanxi province, Shennongjia in Hubei province and Jiashan in Zhejiang province experienced an influx of teachers from urban areas in recent years, Wang said, adding that three out of the 10 recipients of this year's national teacher role models awards had taught for decades in rural areas.

"It is really uplifting to see that teachers in rural areas are being appreciated more than ever," he said.

Through financial incentives and social recognition, the "Special Post" initiative, a national program encouraging college graduates to teach in rural areas, has channeled thousands of teachers into village schools.

The program helped fill more than 60,000 teaching posts in 28,000 village schools last year. It will fill another 70,000 posts in 21 provinces this year, according to the Ministry of Education.

Local governments from 23 provinces are also providing financial benefits for 35,000 college graduates each year in exchange for their services in rural schools.

"As the central government integrates urban and rural education resources, the quality of education in rural areas will improve significantly in the next five years," Wang said.

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