Education funds left due to allocation system

Only 85 million yuan ($13.58 million) of the 220 million yuan ($35.15 million) special fund for pre-school education in Guangzhou, provincial capital of Guangdong province, had been spent by the end of September because there is no system in place to allocate the money. 

The fund must be allocated in specified ways, and the education bureau is still soliciting public opinion on the draft allocation method, Tan Manqing, deputy director of the city's finance bureau, said at an enquiry meeting of the city legislature on Monday.

Many local legislators questioned why it has taken such a long time to establish the allocation system. Tan pledged to speed up the implementation of a system and allocate the remainder of the funds in a timely manner.

The city government earmarked an 800 million yuan ($127.98) special fund for pre-school education for the three years to 2013.

Of the 85 million yuan ($13.58 million) already spent this year, 80 million yuan ($13.58 million) went toward financing non-government kindergartens and 5 million yuan ($0.8 million) was for teacher training,  according to the city government.

The 200 million ($32 million) earmarked for last year was used to renovate or expand kindergarten buildings and to purchase teaching apparatus, Tan said.