The Basic Education Conference of
Yunnan Province in China's southwest held in the capital of
Kunming city in November put forward goals to accelerate basic
all-round education that included introducing English in all
elementary schools in provincial towns by the end of 2003.
Other stated goals:
--
Provide basic education for 85 percent of all people in the
province's 85 counties and make sure that in 29 counties all people
receive nine-years of compulsory education.
--
Help abolish illiteracy among one million young and middle-aged
people by reducing the illiteracy rate among them to less than 5
percent.
--
Abolish illiteracy in 23 counties.
--
Assure that 38 percent of school-age people are entering senior
high school and that seven years of education becomes the average
time spent in school throughout the province by the end of the year
2005.
The province also plans to build another 35 senior high schools,
200 junior high schools, 800 elementary schools and 200
kindergartens during the 10th Five-year Plan period as well as to
insure that equipment in all schools meets provincial
standards.
A
new curriculum project also is planned for the whole province.
Elementary schools in towns will begin classes in English class
starting in the third grade by the end of 2003 and the National
Basic Education Curriculum Reform will be implemented before
2005.
A
province-wide basic education information network will be
constructed over four years and one-third of the elementary schools
and two-thirds of the middle schools will link to a modern
long-distance education network. The province will open an
educational TV channel and build the basic information technologies
educational data bank. Meanwhile, all middle schools and some
elementary schools will open information technology classes by the
end of 2005.
The provincial government will earmark 2.2 billion yuan to renovate
school buildings, further compulsory education in poor areas and
promote basic education during the 10th Five-year Plan period. More
over, the province will enhance the quality of its teachers and
ensure that their salaries are paid on time.
(Chen Xiaobo for 云南日報 [Yunnan
Daily] November 10, 2001, translated by Feng Yikun for
china.org.cn)