China invests heavily on children's education

BEIJING - Conditions for China's most humble elementary schools have improved significantly since the year's beginning.

These schools, located in remote rural areas, generally faced shortage of teachers and teaching stuff. Things have changed thanks to the completion of a national project to extend digital educational resources to them, 64,000 in total, by the end of 2014.

"More than 4 million rural kids will benefit from this project, " according to statement from the Ministry of Education.

Equipped with receiving equipment, set-top boxes, cameras, TV sets and projectors, the 64,000 humble elementary schools could gain access to quality teaching of top schools in large cities.

China is allocating more resources in recent years for child welfare and eduction.

During a trip to Shaanxi Province in February 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the importance of education, noting education is the key to development in poor areas.

"Don't let the kids lose at the starting line," said Xi.

He urged attaching importance to education, especially basic education in poor areas and giving priorities to this in financial allocations.

The government allocated 87.9 billion yuan (14.36 billion US dollars)from the central finance to support rural compulsory education in 2014, up 6.1 percent from the previous year despite a drop in the number of students in rural areas.

From 2003 to 2013, fiscal input in special education, which targets handicapped children, rose from 1.7 billion yuan to 9.2 billion yuan, registering an annual growth rate of 18.6 percent on the average.

A series of polices have been issued to guarantee the life and development rights and interests of all children.