According to a report from the Shanxi provincial education department, educational expenditures in the provincial budget reached 55.8 billion yuan ($9.1 billion) in 2012, accounting for 17.68 percent of fiscal expenditures and exceeding the demand of the Ministry of Finance by 1.68 percentage points, Shanxi Evening News reported on July 31.

The report showed that 426 standard kindergartens were built or expanded in 2011 and 2012 around the province, with the additional area of 960,000 square meters able to hold more than 100,000 children. Meanwhile, thousands of kindergartens to handle 267,000 children were built or rebuilt in rural areas. Shanxi is the first province to finish the school building safety project in the country, investing 23 billion yuan and building or rebuilding 9,729 school buildings.

The Shanxi People's Congress made a report after the special inspection of educational reform, suggesting that the authorities should promote modern education in different ways and guarantee educational spending with specific standards.

Edited by Zhou Yuanyuan and Michael Thai