China allocates 50b yuan to rural schools in 2014

Educational facilities in under developed areas were improved by a funding injection of 50 billion yuan ($8.15 billion) in 2014, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Friday.

Digital devices are now in 64,000 schools across the country, benefiting more than 4 million primary and middle school students in remote rural areas.

Subsidies for rural teachers have increased, and 2.4 million teachers in kindergartens, primary and middle schools received training.

Minister of Education Yuan Guiren said that more efforts will be made to promote fairness in education, narrow the gap between rural and urban education and reduce the dropout rate in compulsory education.

The MOE also issued a report on Friday exposing that lack of funds, inefficient heating and potential safety hazards were prominent problems in winter for students in North China's provinces.

The ministry in late December 2014 sent supervising teams to 95 schools in eight provinces, most of which were in remote areas.

The ministry said that it would step up efforts to improve heating conditions and guarantee safety for students with more financial support.