Education welcomes dawn of new era

There was a time when it seemed Ma Xiaohong's days as a schoolgirl were over.

After finishing primary school in 2002 at the age of 12, Ma, a girl from Guyuan county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, was told she could no longer attend class because her parents could not afford the fees.

"There was nothing I could do," Ma said. "My father had been paralyzed for a long time. There was no one to blame."