Financial authorities in Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region, said Friday that the city’s investment in education increased by an average 18.5 percent annually over the past five years.
Investment in education grew from 550 million yuan (87.3 million U.S. dollars) in 2007 to 1.28 billion yuan in 2011, with the five-year total standing at 4.15 billion yuan, said an official with the city’s finance bureau.
Lhasa has raised teachers’ salaries and built a number of new school buildings during the past five years, Mayor Dorji Tsedrup said earlier this week.
The high school enrollment rate also increased from 48 percent to 81.4 percent during the period, according to the mayor.
The enrollment rate will be raised to 86 percent over the coming five years, the mayor said.
China has created some preferential education policies in Tibet. The government pays for tuition, meals and accommodation for primary and middle school students in Tibet’s rural areas.
Xinhua