China has vowed to provide nine years of compulsory education
for all children by 2008, said a senior education official
Saturday.
Official statistics show that 90 percent of children already
receive nine years education, but false reporting by some
institutions cast doubt on the figures, said Wu Qidi, vice-minister
of education, at the ongoing Chinese Women's Ninth National
Congress in Beijing.
Many female children are deprived of education especially in
rural and poor areas because their parents think they should stay
with the family, said Wu.
In China, some female children have to leave school and move to
cities for work after ending their primary school life. Despite
women's rapid improvement in social status, women and children
remained a weak group, Wu said.
Education for female children was of extreme importance since
they will become mothers and can affect generations of families,
she said.
China's national law stipulates that every child has the right
to nine years of compulsory education, but the law has not been
fully implemented, said Wu, calling on full legal protection for
the children.
It is reported that the central government is scheduled to hold
a meeting on rural education within the year in order to safeguard
rural children's compulsory education.
(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2003)