Education costs for children now account for almost a third of a Chinese's family total income, according to a survey released Monday.

The survey was conducted by Horizon Research, a famous consultancy group, across eight major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Results show that between October 2004 and October 2005, a family with one or more children attending full-time education spent an average of 3,522 yuan (US$442) on their children's education, accounting for a third of their total annual income.

Furthermore, although the sum spent on children's education among rural families is only about half of that spent among urban families, it represents a greater proportion of the household' total earnings. In addition, education costs for a single child in rural areas has increased by over 20 percent annually over the last two years.

The survey also shows that around 85 percent of Chinese residents chose to send their children to public schools instead of private schools, the two main reasons given for such a choice being the presence of "standard education methods" and "low tuition fees."

However, how to further improve the education quality while reducing the education costs is still a big problem that the public concerns most.

(China.org.cn by Xu Lin, August 23, 2006)