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Xinjiang education efforts expanding

By Wang Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-20 09:16

URUMQI: Roxianguli, an 8th grader from Urumqi No 66 Middle School, began to bargain in fluent Mandarin to get a higher price for the grapes in her father's field last year.

"My family earned more than other families in my village because I can speak Mandarin fluently," the little girl said with a smile.

She is among the 15,000 ethnic minority students from underdeveloped areas such as Kashgar in Xinjiang who receive free education in the region's developed cities.

"We are on our way to improving education for ethnic minorities, which is crucial for regional economic development," said Tursun Ibrayim, head of the Xinjiang education bureau.

Another 47,477 students took the entrance exam for high school last Friday, with an acceptance rate of over 10 percent.

"The enthusiasm for these classes is high and the competition is very keen," Ibrayim said.

Accepted students, most of whom come from poor ethnic minority families in under-developed areas, receive free education in developed cities in the region or in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.

Budureyim Yasin, an 8th grader at the No 66 middle school, said: "My family was so poor that my father had to sell the family's only valuable possession, a cow, to finance my brother's tuition."

"I tried my best to pass the entrance exam so I could carry on at school. Otherwise, I'd have had to drop out. Who knows what I'd be doing now if that had happened," he added.

Junior high school education is now offered in Urumqi, Shihezi, Karamay, Kuntun, Changji, Hami, Korla and Akesu in the autonomous region.

From September 2000 to September 2008, 50 senior high schools in 28 cities in the country held such classes and enrolled a total of 240,000 Xinjiang students, among whom 90 percent were ethnic minority students.

From 2004 to 2008, over 6,000 students graduated and 95 percent of those went to universities and colleges for further education.

Since 2004, free junior education began to enroll 1,000 students and the number grew to 5,000 last year.

Senior high school education might soon be made free of charge for students in Kashgar, Hotan and Kezilesu Kirgiz prefectures in the south of the autonomous region, Ibrayim said, adding that the education plan is under the discussion of the State Council, China's cabinet.

The plan will extend free education from the original minimum of 9 years to 12 years and aim to improve the region's overall education standards.

Xinjiang has made notable progress in education development over the past 60 years. In 1949, the region had just one college with 379 students and nine middle schools with 2,925 students. A total of 32 universities and colleges have since been established, with more than half of students ethnic minorities.

Since 2003, 43 billion yuan has been invested in education. This year, the autonomous region allocated another 2 billion yuan to refurbish primary and middle school buildings and to renovate student dormitories.