The Ministry of Education (MOE) has promised that every child in China will have access to nine years of compulsory education by the end of 2007.

Children in 96 percent of Chinese counties currently have access to education, according to the MOE, and 984 counties in western China realized the goal in 2006, covering 96 percent of the western population.

Ninety-three counties remain without proper schooling facilities, mainly in the poor areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet and Xingjiang.

In 2004, the Chinese government launched a campaign to spread nine-year compulsory education and eliminate illiteracy among the youth. The central government allocated 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) to the program, aiming to reduce the illiteracy rate to below five percent of the population by 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2007)