Lu Ruihua, governor of Guangdong Province, announced Sunday that the government would allocate 300 million yuan (US$36 million) every year beginning from this September to fund education for rural youth.

“The fund will be significant in helping poor children attend school. The fund will be replenished every year and is very likely to increase over time,” Lu said.

Thanks to the fund, children in Guangdong’s rural areas whose families have an annual income below the provincial average of 1,500 yuan (US$181) per capita will qualify for an exemption from all school-related expenses, including books and other incidental expenses during their nine-year compulsory education (six years in primary school and three in junior middle school).

Guangdong began compulsory education in 1996 and boasted a primary school enrolment rate of 99.7 percent last year. But a dropout problem remains, with 11.7 percent of junior high school students quitting school last year. The majority of those dropouts come from poor families in rural areas.

Though tuition for compulsory education in China is free, the annual cost of textbooks and supplies required by schools can reach 320 yuan (US$39) in primary schools and 500 yuan (US$60) in junior middle schools.

It is estimated that among the province’s 13.1 million school-age students, 700,000 cannot afford to go to school.

Due to the disparities associated with economic development, poor children mainly come from the northern and western mountainous areas of the province.

Guangdong has seen significant progress in the compulsory education program. Since 1996, the government has poured 5 billion yuan (US$600 million) into building better infrastructure and environments for its schools.

(China Daily 08/20/2001)