County extends free schooling

XI'AN - Ningshan county, in southern Shaanxi province, has begun offering 15 years of free schooling to children this year, making it the first impoverished county in the country to do so.

The change means the county will have to put 40 percent of its annual revenue into schools. China's Compulsory Education Law stipulates that children should receive nine years of free schooling, taking them from primary school to junior middle school. Starting this month, though, children in Ningshan county will be able to go to school for 15 years without paying, said Shi Gongfu, director of the county's education bureau.

He said the county's 33 kindergartens now enroll 2,040 children, who are between the ages of 3 to 6. Because of the policy change, their parents are now expected to save 900 yuan ($141) a year. Families from rural areas will also receive 3 yuan a day from the government to pay for the children's daily expenses.