Primary and junior high school students in Lushan, in the southeastern Jiangxi Province, have registered for their new semester without having to pay tuition.
Fu Jian, local education official, said that starting from this year, all students in the locality would enjoy free education in primary and junior high schools.
It is the first time Jiangxi, an underdeveloped inland region, has offered such a program for the nine years of compulsory education.
More than 1,100 students have benefited from this program in Lushan, where there is only one primary school and one high school.
The local government earmarks nearly one million yuan (US$0.12 million) to support the project every year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2003)
