The Sino-British elementary education program has been playing an important role in improving schooling for children in Gansu Province since it was launched in December 1999.

The program under a cooperation agreement between governments of China and Britain has been used in four counties of Linxia Hui Prefecture of the landlocked province in northwest China.

Under the program, said Li Ying, deputy provincial governor in charge of the program, 176 schools have been rebuilt or expanded, covering 50,729 sq m of school rooms, and 34,310 students from poverty-stricken families have been paid stipends.

The schooling rate for girls and for children of ethnic minorities in the four chosen counties has gone up by 22.23 percent and 17.15 percent, respectively, since the program began, and 2,978 teaching staff and supervisors have received training.

The five-year cooperation program is aimed at improving education facilities in poverty-stricken areas of the province, providing opportunities for school-age children to go to school and helping the province popularize elementary education in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2003)