A township government in South China's Dongguan has rolled out a plan to offer education subsidies to local residents, helping them cover their tuition fees from kindergarten through postgraduate doctoral studies.
Last September, the government of Shipai township, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, conducted a pilot program in one village and later expanded the free education plan across the township, China Business Weekly reported Wednesday.
The program, the first of its kind in China, reportedly covers the educational expenses of local residents up to 25 years.
China has guaranteed nine years of free compulsory education for pupils and junior high school students since 1986.
In Shipai township, a senior high school student can apply for an annual subsidy of 3,000 yuan ($439), a junior college student can apply for 4,000 yuan ($585), a college student 6,000 yuan ($878), a master's degree student 8,000 yuan ($1,170) and a doctoral candidate 10,000 yuan ($1,463), according to the local policy.
About 9,500 students are entitled to the subsidies and the township government is expected to spend about 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) on the program.
The policy has won applause in the township.
"Though the subsidy may not mean much to some wealthy families, I'm sure it is a great help to those in poverty," a 25-year-old woman surnamed Li told the Global Times.
And it sends a positive signal that educators are concerned, she added.
However, some applicants complained that they have not had quick access to the fund.
"I submitted my application forms to the authority one month ago, but haven't got the subsidy," Wang Huanqiang, 23, who graduated from a junior college last year, told the Global Times, adding that authorities told him he needs to wait three more months.
The tuition for his two-year college study is 240,000 yuan ($35,121), he said.
"Though the subsidy is only 8,000 yuan, I still appreciate it," he said.
The township government said the program is part of its long-term plan.
The township, covering an area of 56 square kilometers and with a population of 42,000, is the corporate home of 400 private companies and 500 foreign-owned companies, according to its official website.
With annual disposable fiscal revenue of around 500 million yuan ($73 million), the township couldn't be considered as wealthy as other communities in the Pearl River Delta region, some of them with annual revenue of a billion yuan ($146 million) according to the report.
"It's part of an effort to transform the current post-industrial economy into a future knowledge-based economy as urbanization advances," said Zhai Chongbi, the Party secretary of the township.
The official said the township government aims to build its reputation as a community offering higher social welfare benefits, prosperous cultural undertakings, and a humanistic atmosphere rather than just tall buildings of steel and concrete.
(By Huang Jingjing)
