Gao Xuegui, director of the Illiteracy Elimination Division of the Ministry of Education, has disclosed to local media that China's central finance department has allocated RMB18.1 billion this year for the country's compulsory education sector.

In addition, up to 150 million students in the country have been exempt from paying the tuition and incidental expenses for their compulsory education.

Gao says that the central government's subsidies have greatly reduced farmers' burden in their children's education. A preliminary statistic shows that the exemption of incidental expense in the middle and western part of the country alone has cut about RMB140-180 expense for each primary school student and RMB180-230 for each junior high school student. Students from underprivileged families who have been exempt from paying for the textbooks can save RMB210-250 for each primary school student and RMB320-370 for junior high school students. Students who enjoy both free textbooks and subsidies can help their parents save RMB510-550 for primary school students and RMB620-670 for junior high school students.

Starting the spring semester of 2006, China cancelled the tuition fee and incidental expenses for students taking compulsory education in the rural areas in the western part of the country. In 2007, it extended the policy to the countryside in the middle and eastern parts of the nation.