In the past 30 years, she has visited numerous primary and secondary schools in bigger cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou, on tours organized by the Ministry of Education.

"Before, the contrast was so sharp that I couldn't help but feel upset at the end of each tour," Bai said.

"But now they are no longer the objects of my envy - our school also has computers and multimedia facilities."

While the words of the two delegates presented an encouraging situation of rural education, officials said serious challenges to give rural students access to quality schooling still remain.

Flanked by the teachers, Zhou admitted that one of the major challenges was a severe shortage of teachers.

"As far as I'm concerned, the biggest difference between urban and rural education lies not in the infrastructure, but in the fact that the former has a much larger number of excellent teachers than the latter," the minister said.

"When we talk about equal access to education, we mean equal access to quality education. And that goal can only be realized when excellent teachers are willing to stay in the countryside," he said.

Despite a number of measures taken by the central government to plug the shortage, including the funding of teachers' benefits from its own coffers, schools in rural areas still find it extremely hard to retain teachers who have been offered teaching posts in the cities.

Wang's own husband, also a teacher, had left his school for the city to earn more money for the family and their newborn.

Although things have improved considerably since then, teachers in rural areas are still looking for incentives to stay.