Xinjiang to offer 15-yr universal education by 2020

URUMQI, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Monday said they plan to make 15 years of education basically universal by 2020.

The region's education department said more than 98 percent of children are expected to have access to three years of free preschool education.

Additionally, 95 percent children are expected to finish the compulsory nine years of primary and junior high school, and 90 percent will attend senior high school, it said.

By 2020, all kindergartens, primary and junior high schools will offer bilingual education, and students from ethnic minority groups will have a basic command of standard spoken and written Chinese.

The region also plans to speed up development of vocational education and improve higher education to have 40 percent of students attend universities.

In 2020, those entering the labor force in the region will have received 13 years of education on average, it said.