BEIJING, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government prioritized education in its efforts to eradicate poverty during the 2011-2015 period, according to a white paper unveiled Monday.
To ensure poor people's access to education, the government has taken measures to promote balanced compulsory education, bridge the education gap between urban and rural areas, improve education infrastructure in impoverished areas and allotting living subsidies to the students, said the document released by the State Council Information Office.
In 2012-2015, the central government injected 83.1 billion yuan (12.33 billion U.S. dollars) in renovating schools for compulsory education and earmarked 14 billion yuan to build dormitory buildings for some 300,000 teachers in remote rural areas, the document showed.
In less-developed central and western China, the number of children enrolled in kindergartens rose from 21.53 million in 2011 to 27.89 million in 2015, up about 30 percent.
China offered cost-of-living subsidies for rural teachers in contiguous poverty-stricken areas, benefiting over one million teachers in 600 counties.
A directional enrollment program was carried out in poverty-stricken areas, enrolling 183,000 students in 832 impoverished counties form 2012 to 2015.
In 2013-2015, the average annual growth rate of rural students from poor areas enrolled in key universities was kept above 10 percent, according to the document.
The white paper added that the country also reinforced poverty relief efforts through developing industries with local features, resettling impoverished population, improving medical security and supporting employment and entrepreneurship. Enditem
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