Updated: Apr 18,2017 8:07 AM
The Ministry of Education is planning to continue to increase college and university enrollment of students in rural and poor areas in 2017, with over 63,000 students from these areas to be admitted this year, 3000 more than last year.
It marks the fourth increased enrollment targeted at poor areas since the establishment of the current government, with an estimate of more than 25,000 poor students recruited in key universities since 2013.
"Education fairness is the basis of social justice, so that every family's children can have the opportunity to receive better education,' Premier Li Keqiang stressed at a State Council executive meeting, asking related departments to focus on how to promote education fairness when formulating the 13th Five-Year plan on education development.
"We need to meet people's basic living needs, to provide the last resort for people to fall back on in case of special difficulty, and to promote social fairness,' Premier Li said at the first press conference since taking office, calling them three major tasks for the government.
He also said that the government needs to pay particular attention to education to ensure fairness at the very starting point. Two months later, at a State Council executive meeting, he decided to expand the presence of rural, poor students in top universities.
Therefore, the special program was started in 2012, in which nation's top universities would recruit 10 thousand students from registered poor counties as well as areas in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. As the program continues, the number of students to be benefited has risen from 10 thousand to 63 thousand this year.
"Bonus policies must benefit the most needed and poor people,' the Premier once said.
In the government work report this year, he also expressed the pledge to develop fair and high-quality education, making people satisfied and helping more children realize their dreams.
Premier Li described what he saw in an impoverished village in Guizhou province on several occasions. "Although lack of materials, people see hopes, as more than 20 young people went to universities in recent two to three years. The young generation of the whole village feel they have opportunities to climb upstairs, so their state of mind are totally different,' he said.
He stressed the importance of deepening reform by narrowing gaps in educational resources between urban and rural areas, and in different regions and colleges. Meanwhile, he called for further investment in rural areas in China's central and western regions, to enable more students with financial difficulties to receive better education.
"Key universities should further expand enrollment in rural areas, so that children from poor families can have fair channel to go upwards,' the Premier added.