BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China plans to invest 218.2 billion yuan (around 27 billion US dollars) in education to ensure that every child in rural and poor areas can enjoy nine years of compulsory education.

    Minister of Education Zhou Ji made the pledge at a press conference on Tuesday, adding that the Chinese government vows to fundamentally change the fact that many poor families cannot afford to send their kids to school.

    The State Council, or the central government, has issued a notice calling governments at all levels to take every possible measure to support compulsory education, Zhou said. According to the notice, central finance and local finance will share 80 percent and 20 percent of the fund.

    "It means in the ensuing five years, China's central finance will set aside 125.4 billion yuan (around 15 billion US dollars) to support compulsory education," Zhou explained.

    The Chinese government has also drawn up clear and concrete regulations on how governments at various levels arrange funds for compulsory education, Zhou added. If provinces and regions in under-developed west China cannot allocate the funds, the central government will provide financial assistance.

    From this spring semester, rural students will be exempt from all tuition fees during compulsory education and will be provided with free textbooks and boarding subsidies.

    Zhou said that giving rural kids an equal chance to receive education to urban ones is a crucial step to building a new socialist countryside, which is also an important part of buildingan all-round prosperous and harmonious society.

    However, Zhou acknowledged that to fully popularize compulsory education in China will not be easy, since disparity in economic and social growth still exists in different provinces and regions, especially between the east and the west.

    "Generally speaking, education in China still sees insufficient financial investment," Zhou said. In 2004, financial input in education accounted for only 2.79 percent of China's GDP.

    He disclosed that in the 11th Five-Year Program, a national development project for 2006-2010, China will increase the investment ratio to four percent. Enditem