According to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Education, China's education develops steadily in 2003. More opportunities to study in school are offered. The gross school attendance rate at all levels keeps on rising in the past year.

In 2003, the popularization of compulsory education in China was further improved. A total of 51 counties (districts) and 12 units at county level passed appraisal for "two basic requirements", i.e. realized nine-year compulsory education and eliminated young illiterates basically. This means that 91. 8 percent of the Chinese population lived in areas where the "two basic requirements" have been realized. 98.6 percent of schooling-age Children entered primary school. The middle school attendance rate reached 92.7 percent, 2.7 percentage points higher as against the previous year. However, dropout rate in primary school and junior high school was 0.34 percent and 2.84 percent respectively. However, it's still a hard job to popularize and consolidate the compulsory education in rural areas

The scale of education at senior high school level kept on rising with the gross attendance rate at 43.8 percent, one percentage point over that of 2002. Graduates from junior high schools enjoyed more opportunities to enter senior high schools. The higher education experienced sustainable development. The number of students studying at institutions of higher learning reached 19 millions, 3 million over that of the previous year. The gross university entrance rate hit 17 percent, 2 percentage points higher than that of 2002. China's postgraduate education underwent a rapid development. Compared with 2002, the number of enrollment rose by 32.72 percent and the number of graduate students studying at university rose by 30 percent. But the structure of students on campus needs an adjustment.

Education run by private organizers developed rapidly in 2003. There were 810, 000 students studying at privately run universities, an increase of 1.6 times over that of last year. The number of students in private senior high schools rose by 36.7 percent, amounting to 7.2 percent of all senior high school students on campus.

Gross entrance rate of preschool education reached 37.4 percent, a rise of 0.6 percentage point over that of the previous year. With regard to the special education, 63.64 percent of handicapped children were enrolled in ordinary schools or ordinary schools with special class for these students. Of all the handicapped students, 66. 23 percent studied in ordinary schools.

While making overall progress, education is still facing a number of problems and difficulties, e.g. the West and the impoverished areas still have a tough task in realizing the "two-basic requirements"; the vocational education needs to be strengthened, conditions for running institutions of higher learning need to be improved, etc.

Source: People's Daily Online