News from the official website of China's Ministry of Education is that from the 2008 spring semester, China's central finance departments will begin to cover the costs of the local textbooks necessary for students receiving compulsory education in the rural areas of China.
In the meantime, the finance departments at various levels will increase the subsidy for the textbooks of national-level courses. It will increase the subsidy for each rural primary school student from RMB70 per year to RMB90 per year, and raise the allowance for each rural junior school students from RMB140 to RMB180 each year.
In addition, ME has asked that the quantity of the local textbooks be strictly controlled and no parties shall charge any fee from the students' parents in the name of textbook fee. In the autumn semester of 2007, China's central finance departments extended the free textbook policy to all the students under the compulsory education in China's countryside, for which it needs to spend an extra of over RMB13 billion every year.
