Families across the China have begun sending their children to school tuition-free for the nine-year compulsory education. About 28.21 million urban students in primary schools and junior high schools joined rural students at the start of the fall semester yesterday in benefiting from the plan, according to the ChineseĀ Ministry of Education. The students still must pay for textbooks and uniforms.
Students in rural areas had been able to enjoy free education. About 150 million students had benefitted from the program.
The change is significant for low-income urban families like Liu Yang’s. The 12-year-old boy is in the sixth grade, the last year of primary school, in Changsha, capital of the central Hunan Province. His father is sick and his mother is a domestic helper.
“I paid about 300 yuan (US$43.95), including fees for textbooks and uniforms, every semester in the first three years. In the past two years, the school exempted me from some fees,” he said.
“This semester, tuition and incidental expenses were exempted. The school did not charge me for textbooks or uniforms either.”
Other policies are helping children like Zhao Linxi, an 11-year-old girl in west Beijing, receive an education. Zhao has received subsidies of 400 yuan from the school and 600 yuan from the government annually for three years.
“We are having some financial problems but I feel no burden to send my child to school,” said Zhao’s father, who has a medical condition that keeps him from working.
“We are working on a comprehensive system to help children from poor families, including subsidies, scholarships and other preferential policies,” said Cheng Binquan, a government official in Beijing’s Xicheng District.
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