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Urban Chinese welcome promise of free education
(Xinhua) Updated: 2008-03-06 16:52 Wang Xiaoshan, 35, a laid-off worker living in a government-subsidized residential quarter in western Beijing, said he and his wife had been worrying about the tuition fees for their six-year-old daughter who will go to school this fall. Wang and his wife earn 2,000 yuan a month in total, their daughter's one-semester tuition and miscellaneous fee were set to cost 600 yuan, a heavy burden. "We feel much easier now since my daughter will go to school like other children," said Wang. "China cannot modernize if education is not made universally available and if its quality is not improved," said Premier Wen in the government work report. The government stopped collecting tuition and other school fees in rural areas last spring, benefiting 150 million students, including the 7.8 million from poor families. "This is another major measure for promoting the balanced development of compulsory education and equal access to education," Wen told almost 3,000 NPC deputies in the Great Hall of the People on March 5. Wu Ni said the measure would reduce the economic burden of urban low-income families. Chen Jin, a primary school principal in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, said the measure would help China's education development meet international standards. "It's crucial that the government should monitor the fund allocating process, to ensure smooth implementation," said Chen. |
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