New plans are emerging for educational improvements next year that include further developing the curricula for biological and information technology in Chinese universities.
University officials are encouraged to expand course offerings in economics, law, finance and accounting to meet the growing demand for professional expertise in these areas following China's accession to theWorld Trade Organization, Thursday's China Daily quoted officials with the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, adult and vocational schools are expected to enlarge recruitment to bring new farming skills to rural areas and train laid-off workers and farmers who migrate to cities, the daily quoted a ministry news release as saying.
Combating illiteracy is a key tenet of new education plans, particularly among those between ages 15 to 50 in the central and western areas. The ministry has urged more efforts to popularize the nine-year compulsory education at primary and secondary schools to this end.
The central government has allocated 5 billion yuan (US$602 million) to speed up the popularization of compulsory education in these regions, said the report.
The number of young and middle-aged illiterates now stands at 4 percent, mainly those in remote and poor counties in the central and western areas with poor economic and educational conditions.
(Beijing Daily Group December 27, 2001)
