China will invest more than 900 million yuan (about US$108.4
million) to improve compulsory education in the southwestern
province of Guizhou
in the coming four years, said the local education department.
The program plans to build 1,044 boarding middle schools in 83
poverty-stricken counties in the mountainous province.
Officials in charge of the program said it will provide 366,800
school-age children with access to junior middle school
education.
A survey released by the department shows that a large number of
students drop out of school due to inconvenient transportation and
poverty in many parts of the province.
According to an educational guideline issued by the Ministry of
Education on March 3, 2004, China has set a goal of ensuring the
nine-year compulsory educational system covering at least 85
percent of the western area and reducing the youth illiteracy rate
in the area to less than five percent by the end of 2007.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2005)