China spends over 5 trillion yuan on education in 2019

China spent about 5.01 trillion yuan (about US$706.6 billion) on education nationwide in 2019, up 8.74 percent from the previous year, the Ministry of Education said Monday.

Students attend a class at a primary school in Dahua Yao autonomous county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, May 29, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

The government's budgetary spending on education amounted to over 4 trillion yuan in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 8.25 percent, according to a report issued by the ministry.

The report shows that over 2.2 trillion yuan of spending went to compulsory education and over 1.3 trillion yuan to higher education in 2019, up 9.12 percent and 11.99 percent respectively from the previous year.