A matter of resolve

THE QUESTION OF WHO SHOULD FUND SCHOOL buses is still dangling in the air, despite the central government's reiteration that financial support for the purchase and operating of such vehicles will come from the coffers of both central and local governments.

Experts estimate that 300 billion yuan ($47.1 billion) may be needed to purchase school buses for all primary and middle schools and that the annual cost of operating them will be 150 billion yuan.

The expenditure on education is 3.48 percent of the nation's GDP and the government revenue - which was more than 10 trillion yuan from January to November - is about 20 percent of GDP, so at most 1.7 trillion yuan can be spent on education. If the buses are all purchased at once they will consume almost one-fifth of the total expenditure on education.