Equality in education

We must strive for equality in education, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Last year, Premier Wen Jiabao promised the government would ensure education for every child. This year, Wen said in the Government Work Report that rural compulsory education had been fully financed by the State revenues, and starting from this autumn, urban students would also be exempt from fees.

It is by no means easy for China, a country with a population of 1.3 billion, to realize free compulsory education. Although China passed the Compulsory Education Law in 1986, only 20 percent of students were able to complete the nine-year compulsory education at that time and they needed to pay school fees. For the disadvantaged groups in both the urban and rural areas, it was still too expensive for them to send their children to school.