BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Minister of Education Zhou Ji said here Tuesday that concrete measures will be taken to improve rural teacher's quality and payment, with a specific fund to be launched in the near future.

    At a press conference held at the Information Office of the State Council, Zhou told reporters that large disparity still exists in the educational sector between rural and urban areas in China. To improve rural teacher's quality is key to solving the problem.

    "Therefore, the Chinese government will set up specific funds to support outstanding young teachers to work in outlying rural areas," Zhou said.

    China has drawn a clear blueprint to promote rural education, Zhou said. In the next two years, it will make rural students exempt of all education tuition fees during the period of compulsory education and provide free textbooks and boarding subsidies for school kids from needy families. And in the next five years, the country will spend 218.2 billion yuan (around 27 billion U.S. dollars) to help improve education in its rural areas.

    In addition, he said, the State Council has made a draft amendment to China's Law on Compulsory Education and tabled it to lawmakers on Feb. 4. The draft amendment not only set up a special chapter on teachers engaged in compulsory education, but also said the pay for rural teachers should be no less than that of local government officials.

    The Chinese government also aroused young people to teach in rural areas, Zhou said. In the last several years, quite a few college graduates volunteered to work as teachers in west rural areas and their work has been widely acclaimed by the local people.

    Zhou noted that the draft amendment to China's Law on Compulsory Education suggested that urban teachers should work in rural areas for a certain period of time before getting promoted as senior teachers.

    A report by a supervision team under the Ministry of Education showed there is still a marked gap in investment in education across different regions in China, despite increased government funds. The number of qualified teachers in urban primary schools was originally 2.2 percent higher than in rural ones, but the figure has lowered to 1.5 percent.

    The number of qualified teachers in West China was two percentage points lower than East China, one percent down from 2000. Enditem