China had approximately 12.5 million teachers at the end of last year at schools of various levels, an increase of 3.25 million, or 35.2 percent, since 1985, according to government statistics released on Friday.

In 2003, the number of full-time teachers in the institutions of higher learning reached around 814,000, up 15 percent over the preceding year. Of those, 89,000 were working in colleges and universities targeting adult students, an official with Chinese Ministry of Education said.

The number of full-time teachers for senior high schools amounted to 1.071 million in 2003, an increase of 125,000 over theyear before. Full-time teachers for vocational schools and secondary technical schools decreased, however, down 9,000 and 8,000 respectively.

In junior high schools, the number of full-time teacher rose to3.47 million, an increase of 36,000 over 2002, while primary schools' full time teachers decreased 76,000 to 5.7 million.

"Teachers' professional expertise and academic research abilities have been greatly increased in recent years," said an official from the Ministry of Education.

Some 23.8 percent of junior high school teachers have bachelor's degrees, and 32.6 percent of college teachers have master's degree, the statistics show.

Source: Xinhua