Chengdu: More than 10,000 Tibetan students in southwest China’s Sichuan province will get free secondary vocational education this September in what is being referred to as the “9 plus3”project, Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.

The project means that students will get three years’ secondary vocational education after they finish the nine-year compulsory education.

Pan Yu, spokesperson of Education Department, Sichuan Province said that the Tibetan students will study 68 majors, including 169 directions, offered by 80 vocational schools considered to be the best in Sichuan province.

In addition to free education, each student will receive 3,000 yuan ($439) for living expenses in the first two years, and half for the last year. The Tibetan student also gets an annual subsidy of 1500 yuan for traffic, accommodation and other cost.