Offering broad access to education is essential to achieving harmony, says a commentary in Beijing News. An excerpt follows:

At a press conference last Tuesday, Premier Wen Jiabao said the country should try to ensure all 1.3 billion Chinese people have the opportunity to receive education.

The premier's words gave a clear principle amid the recent arguments over the development of China's education system.

Offering broader access to education conforms to the actual situation of our country. Education is the most extensive endeavors of a society. Everyone invests in it, and everyone benefits from it.

China is still a developing country, whose per capita gross domestic product ranks very low in the world. In many regions, education takes up more than 20 percent of the total family income, which is much higher than the world average of 8 percent.

Under the current national conditions, education should not be a club for a few. The premier said that education is the cornerstone of a modernized country and a country's development depends on improving the skills of the people.

Some claim that a group of people have become rich in our country and they can shoulder higher educational costs so that education can be divided into different categories. But if education for the general public were to be overlooked at the national level, education would become a privilege for a small group of people. That would lead to unfairness.

To provide education for the general public is the basic responsibility of a government. At the moment there are still many people living in poverty in our country. Children in poverty-stricken families also have the right to receive education.

(China Daily March 22, 2006)