China will beef up its support for secondary vocational education by expanding the coverage of free schooling for all students, authorities said on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Education said it is an "irresistible trend" to offer free schooling to all students at secondary vocational schools.

The ministry said the policy that exempts students at secondary vocational schools from tuition fees has been adopted in the country's nine provincial level regions, including Inner Mongolia and Shanxi.

According to a national regulation, urban students majoring in agriculture-related subjects or having financial difficulties and all rural students were exempt from tuition fees at secondary vocational schools from the autumn semester of 2012.

The ministry also said that insurance should be provided for students who are have an internship before graduation to ensure their personal safety.

China's secondary vocational education has developed rapidly in recent years, to the extent that its enrollment scale rivaled that of senior high schools.

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