West China schools get 'special' treatment

Known as "special-post teachers", four of the eight instructors at Longjiacun Primary School are now or were previously part of a government program to spread compulsory education in central and western China.

The program is aimed at improving the quality of rural education in 21 provinces and autonomous regions, including Yunnan province, by 2020, according to the Outline for Development-Oriented Poverty Reduction for China's Rural Areas (2011-20), which was released two years ago.

In Yunnan, 79 counties recruited more than 6,800 special-post teachers last year from college graduates or other candidates who have a teacher's certificate. Each teacher is paid 27,000 yuan ($4,360) per year, an increase of more than 30 percent from the previous year.