China makes breakthrough in providing inclusive, high-quality education service: minister

BEIJING -- China has made new breakthroughs in delivering inclusive and high-quality public education services in recent years, with its basic education development reaching the average level of high-income countries, Huai Jinpeng, China's minister of education, said Tuesday.

According to Huai, the country has steadily expanded access to high-quality compulsory education, with 2,895 county-level regions nationwide achieving balanced development in this area.

Since 2012, the gross enrollment rate for preschool education has risen by 27.5 percentage points, climbing from 64.5 percent to 92 percent, Huai said.

Higher education has also become universal in China, Huai added, noting that the gross enrollment rate has more than doubled since 2012, rising from 30 percent to 60.8 percent today.

Huai also noted that China has continued its special program for key colleges and universities aimed at students from rural areas and regions lifted out of poverty, benefiting more than 1.23 million students to date.

Subsidies now cover students at all stages of schooling and in institutions at all levels whose families face economic difficulties, he said.

According to Wang Jiayi, vice-minister of education, a total of 630 million students received subsidies from 2021 to 2024. Over 1.2 trillion yuan (about $169 billion) in subsidies were distributed, with 848.2 billion yuan, or 70 percent of the total, provided by government funds.