China pools subsidies for rural teachers

BEIJING - The Chinese government will increase financial support for teachers in rural and impoverished areas to attract talent into underdeveloped rural education.

The ministries of education and finance have formulated a policy offering additional allowances to teachers in primary and middle schools in disadvantaged areas, senior official with the ministry of education Xu Tao told a Tuesday press conference. The fund will cover current teachers and will stop if teachers leave their posts.

China has more than 100 million rural students in compulsory nine-year education, accounting for 70 percent of all Chinese students at that stage. These rural students are taught by some 6.2 million full-time teachers and 1.2 million of them in 699 counties are now receiving funds during the program's trial run. The fund is mainly allocated by local government and paid for by the central government.

Although details are subject to local government decisions, Xu hopes that rural teaching jobs will become more attractive since the income might exceed that of urban counterparts when the program is in full swing.