Basic education conditions in the Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region have been improved with the support of
China's central government.
Over 97 percent of ethnic minority school-age children in Xinjiang
now go to school, over ten percent more than five years ago.
Poverty and scattered residences in Xinjiang severely limited the
rate of enrolment in primary school.
In recent years, the Chinese government has taken measures to
improve this situation, including textbook donations and providing
volunteer education with a special fund of 1.4 billion yuan, or
US$170 million, a year.
(CRI October 18, 2004)