China increases national basic education funds

BEIJING -- National spending on education amounted to 4 percent of China's 2012 GDP, up 0.07 percentage points from 2011, with the majority of the additional funds used to make improvements in basic education.

Basic education includes compulsory education, school dormitories and subsidies for college students, according to an article published Monday by the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China.

Since 2009, the central government has allocated 30 billion yuan ($4.78 billion) and steered another 300 billion yuan in investment from local governments or enterprises toward the reconstruction of 350 million square meters of dormitories in 136,000 schools, the article said.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) said it will make the most efforts to manage educational expenditure this year and establish a supervisory mechanism to ensure the proper use of the funds.

A recent circular published on the website of the MOE reported 10 instances of arbitrary school fees being levied.

During the anti-corruption campaign in 2012, the ministry also cracked down on 350 major cases of arbitrary school fees, the circular said.