According to the new outline, by the year 2010, more than 30 percent of the region's children under three years of age will be receiving pre-school education, and all children aged between three and six in cities and towns, and more than 50 percent in farming and pasture areas will have access to pre-school education.

According to local sources, the new outline also aims to guarantee more than 97 percent of the region's primary school age children will be at school by 2010. Greater efforts will be made to guarantee that over 60 percent of the region's handicapped children of primary school age will also receive schooling.

In old Tibet, less than 2 percent of children had the chance togo to school, since education was controlled by temples. In 1993, the regional government of Tibet published a program, the first of its kind in Tibet, on the development of children's cause in the 1990s.

As a result, by the year 2000, 85.8 percent of the region's children of primary school age were at school, compared with 44 percent in 1990.

Tibet's first special education school became operational in December of 2000. The school now has 67 students and 15 faculty members.

The regional government has decided to allocate 9.4 million yuan (US$ 1.13 million) for the development of children and women's causes in the 2001-2010 period.

( December 10, 2001)