Narrowing the urban-rural education gap

The Chinese government has been increasing the funding for the education sector and taken several other measures to improve the quality of education, especially in rural areas. These efforts are paying off. But there still remains a huge gap between the quality of education in rural and urban areas, especially in terms of teacher shortages in the mountainous, inaccessible and remote areas, with over 60 percent of the schools at quite a distance from many a student's village.

And despite the continuous efforts of the central and provincial governments to attract new blood through various initiatives, recruiting and retaining teachers in rural areas remains a big challenge. One reason for this could be the poor working and living conditions the teachers have to endure.

About 9.75 million students are sitting the national college entrance examination on Thursday and Friday, and most of them know education can transform lives and holds the key to our future. And teachers matter.