China's state loan system has assisted 2.3 million college
students from poor families by issuing 19.09 billion yuan (about
US$2.39 billion) in interest-free loans since 1999, Chinese
Ministry of Education said on Tuesday.
Since June 2004, the Chinese government has granted
interest-free loans to 1.441 million college students by issuing
around 1.211 billion yuan (US$151 million), the ministry said.
China introduced a pilot state education loan system in 1999 in
eight major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, etc. The system was extended to the
rest of the country in 2004.
By April 2006, 15.4 percent of the students studying in colleges
and universities sponsored by the central government departments
had received loans, according to Yuan Guiren, vice minister of
education, at a signing ceremony between the Bank of China and the
ministry on the loan management for the next five years.
In China, families have to pay at least 8,000 yuan (US$975.6)
every year for their child's college education, which means farmers
have to shell out years of income.
Statistics from the ministry show China now has 15.62 million
college students, of which three million come from poor
families.
A new policy dubbed as "Green Channel" will be put into practice
to ensure that every poor student can go to school, the ministry
said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2006)