Stop robbing schools

If the doubts and complaints surrounding the collapsed school buildings in the May 12 earthquake revealed the tip of an iceberg, the National Audit Office's (NAO) latest report confirms the popular belief that inadequate financial guarantees for rural compulsory education are far from a regional phenomenon.

The NAO audit report on the operation of the newly installed financial support mechanisms for compulsory education in the countryside, which incorporates contributions from central and local coffers, exposes widespread defaults at local levels.

Some local governments failed to contribute their due share to match funds from the central government. Some counties have reduced their input after the central and the provincial government increased theirs.