Guangdong is considering offering free compulsory education for children in rural areas.

Zheng Detao, chief of the Guangdong Provincial Education Department said the free education scheme, which is still under discussion, would be handed over to the provincial government for approval.

High schools in the province would expand admission rates by 10 percent this year. Guangdong had offered free education for families with annual incomes below 1,500 yuan (US$181) since 2001.

Guangdong will gradually promote free education for children during the nine-year compulsory education period, according to an education modernization outline that was promulgated in 2004.

Under the plan, the province will promote free education in the province's 50 poor counties.

The scheme would involve billions of yuan, Zheng said.

High school education had bottlenecked in a provincial drive to promote higher education. High schools increased admission rates by 15 percent last year and admitted 60,000 more students than the previous year. But only 65 percent of junior school students went on to high school education last year.

The province's gross admission rate to colleges stands at 20 percent, one percent higher than the national average. The province plans to increase the total admission rate to colleges to 25 percent by 2007 and 28 percent by 2010, Zheng said.

Han Ximin

Editor: Catherine