Shanghai's education authority said yesterday 19 primary and secondary schools in rural areas will be managed by institutes from downtown areas for two years.

The move is an effort to provide rural students a better education and a taste of modern city culture.

The first batch of 19 schools are in the districts of Jinshan, Nanhui and Fengxian, as well as Chongming County, where facilities and funding lag behind downtown counterparts, the Shanghai Education Commission said.

The commission will allocate part of the city's 20 million yuan (US$2.6 million) rural education development fund to purchase for the management service after two years.

"The new relationship is just like a marriage," said Liu Jinghai, director of the downtown Success Education Studies Institute. "We should work hand in hand with our rural partners in every step of development."

(Shanghai Daily July 4, 2007)