BEIJING, China – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has proposed reforming the country’s educational system to upgrade rural and vocational schools as well as raise teachers’ salaries so that the problems created by the global financial crisis can be better tackled.
The plan should span 2009 to 2020 and guarantee every child, rich and poor, nine years of compulsory education, develop educational facilities in rural areas and provide an education to the children of migrant workers.
A major problem is rural poverty. In the countryside families very often choose to send their children to work in the cities rather than get an education. Sources report that at least 80 per cent of children from peasant families leave school after one or two years.