Beijing Youth Daily:

My question concerns education in Xizang. Given the vast landscape and widely dispersed population of Xizang, what measures has the government of the Xizang Autonomous Region taken to better address the educational issues faced by children of farmers and herders? Thank you.

Wang Haizhou:

Thank you for your question and your concern about education in Xizang. Xizang has always prioritized improving the quality of rural education, especially ensuring equal access to quality education for children of farmers and herders. We have taken the following major measures to achieve this goal.

First, we have comprehensively improved the conditions of schools in farming and pastoral areas. As Mr. Yan previously introduced, we have launched projects to provide safe drinking water for schools in these areas and ensure heating supply for schools in the alpine and high-altitude areas. Meanwhile, we have vigorously promoted the application of information technology by launching an education cloud platform and achieved the full coverage of an optical fiber-based broadband network in all schools. All primary and secondary schools across the region have access to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) fiber-optic broadband network services, forming an open educational environment where people can learn whenever and wherever they want. All teachers and students can access quality educational resources without leaving home, effectively narrowing gaps in education conditions and quality between different schools, regions, and urban-rural areas.

Second, we have basically achieved balanced development of compulsory education across the region. Since 2012, we have launched projects to realize balanced compulsory education in counties, investing 7.83 billion yuan and implementing 2,167 school projects under the poverty relief program. By 2021, all 74 counties and districts across the region had passed the evaluation for basically balanced development of compulsory education.

Third, we have fully promoted the high-quality development of senior secondary school education. We have intensified efforts to universalize senior secondary education, and built, rebuilt or expanded a number of schools providing this level of education. Each prefecture-level city in the region has been equipped with a specialized secondary vocational school to cultivate technicians and skilled workers. Meanwhile, the integration of secondary and higher vocational education helps teenagers longing for skills master one practical skill and ensure all students enjoy an equal opportunity to thrive and achieve their full potential. In addition, we have opened up more channels for children of farmers and herders in the annual college enrollment: We implement the national special program for students in poverty-stricken areas and the special program for students in remote, impoverished and ethnic minority areas, thereby ensuring more of them can have access to higher education.

Fourth, we have comprehensively weighted teacher resources toward farming and pastoral areas. We have implemented the plan to strengthen the workforce of teachers in rural areas and targeted training programs for rural teachers, making efforts to improve rural teachers' social status and raise their salaries, encourage teachers to teach in rural schools, and give preference to teachers in rural schools and schools in high-altitude areas in cases of applying for professional titles. Since 2016, a total of 2,096 rural teachers have been awarded for their 20 years of teaching efforts, and 677 have been honored with a lifetime achievement award for teaching over 25 years in the region's rural areas.

Fifth, we have fully implemented various measures to ensure that children of farmers and herders can attend school without worries or concerns. We have established a 15-year public-funded education system from kindergarten to senior high school and a student financial assistance system. Mr. Wang previously shared the overall situation with us. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, we have raised the education subsidy standard eight times. Currently, under the Three Guarantees policy for education in Xizang, which provides food, accommodation and school expenses for preschool to senior high students from farming and herding households and impoverished urban families, the average subsidy has amounted to 4,200 yuan per student per year. So far, we have spent 22.067 billion yuan on supporting this education policy, benefiting 6.5508 million students. Meanwhile, we have launched national and local pilot schemes to implement the nutrition improvement program for students under compulsory education in farming and pastoral areas and increased subsidies twice. Currently, the annual average subsidy per student has reached 1,000 yuan, with a total of 3.252 billion yuan spent to benefit 4.1766 million students. A total of 42 student financial aid policies have been rolled out to ensure comprehensive assistance to everyone who needs it. We can say with great pride that today in Xizang, no child drops out of school due to financial difficulties. The vast majority of children have changed their own and their families' fates through education and are living happy lives.

The tremendous changes in Xizang's education sector would have been unimaginable 70 years ago. Progress in education, especially for children of farmers and herders, stands as a testament to the successful implementation of the CPC policies on the governance of Xizang in the new era. It has also fully demonstrated that it is only under the leadership of the CPC, within the embrace of the big family of the motherland, and only by firmly following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, that people of various ethnic groups can fully enjoy the right to education. Thank you.