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Schools in coastal cities recruit children from NW China
High schools in twelve more cities in coastal areas in east and south China will recruit students from the inland Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the country's northwest, a regional official said Tuesday. Nur Bekri, vice secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China, said that with the approval of the Ministry of Education, 12 cities in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces will open special school programs for students from Xinjiang. Thus, 24 cities in economically developed areas in China have " Xinjiang Classes," the name of the special program. In 2000, 12 cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen opened the special classes. With the expansion, the program is expected to be able to enroll 5,000 students every year from 2007. The programs target children from farming and herding families of minority ethnic groups in the autonomous region. Xinjiang has 47 ethnic groups. The region lags behind the country's coastal areas in education because of its adverse natural environment and slow economic development. Nur Bekri said that the promotion of special school programs for Xinjiang children in inland cities is a significant step for the country to boost the social development of the region. The program is partly funded by the state and local governments of the participating cities, while students from poverty-stricken families can receive an annual financial aid for subsistence of 1, 400 yuan (about US$169) from the government of the autonomous region. |
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