BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese government will improve public services, especially education and public health, in rural areas, said Premier Wen Jiabao in a speech issued by the State Council on Thursday.

    The underdevelopment of public service including education and public health is the weakest link in building a new socialist countryside, Wen said.

    He called on governments at all levels to invest more in education and public health so as to improve public services in rural areas.

    The Chinese government will reach the goal of enabling every farmer's child to go to school and enabling every sick farmer to receive treatment, Wen said.

    In the next two years, China will make rural students exempt of all education tuition fees during the period of compulsory education and provide free textbooks and boarding subsidies for students from needy families, Wen said.

    China will enhance the rural cooperative medical system and grant allowances to farmers who join the system from 2006. It will expand the pilot counties adopting the system, and aims to extend the system to nearly all villages by 2008, he said. Enditem