Comment on "Fewer high school grads fight for university place" (China Daily, May 4)

According to a report on the Ministry of Education's website, fewer students will take the national college entrance examination this year than the past several years. This is a clear indication that fewer students taking the exam will become the trend.

This should draw people's attention because it not only shows the trend of higher education in the country, but also reflects people's orientation toward higher education.

On one hand, students have other options apart from getting admitted to universities within the country, which means our colleges have to make more efforts to improve their quality of teaching to attract students. On the other, the government should pay more attention to the aging population problem because the country's birth rate is not as high as before.

Lily, via e-mail

Readers' comments are welcome. Please send your e-mail to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to the individual columnists. China Daily reserves the right to edit all letters. Thank you.

(China Daily 05/06/2011 page9)