Southwest China's Sichuan Province will allocate six million yuan to construct remote education centers in 12 middle schools in three minority autonomous prefectures in 2002, said a senior official Monday in Chengdu.

Yuan Benpu, chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said that the project would allow the same education opportunities to students in Aba Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture as their city-dwelling contemporaries.

It is expected that the remote education network will cover 48 county-level middle schools in the three minority autonomous prefectures in three years.

More children to receive higher education

The project aims to help more local children receive higher education and improve local scientific and technological development, which is considerably lagging behind the national average.

In recent years, China has started a national campaign to eliminate poverty by helping more under-educated people to receive education.

Sources say that a network covering 50 minority counties in Sichuan has been built since 2001 and will be used for remote education.