17:01.

From BBC here. Way to go, China. I believe in compulsory education.

China ends school fees for 150m

China says it will abolish tuition fees for 150 million rural students, in a bid to narrow the gap between wealthy coastal provinces and poorer regions.

The students will be exempt from tuition fees over the course of their compulsory nine-year education.

The move would cost 15bn yuan ($1.9bn) a year, the China Daily said.

Last year the government abolished fees for 50m students living in the western provinces of China, some of the poorest parts of the country.

"It is part of a major move to relieve the financial burden of farmers and to develop a new countryside," the state-owned newspaper said.

Money shortage

In theory, Chinese children are guaranteed free education from age six to 15.

But in practise, cash strapped local authorities and schools charge fees and education taxes which poorer families can find prohibitive.

The move to end fees follows increasing concern at unrest in the countryside and at a growing gap between the rich coastal provinces and poor interior.

The authorities have promised more money and fresh policies to ease the problem, as part of what is officially billed as building a "harmonious society".

But many people in rural areas are still living on less than a dollar a day, and rural schooling is seen to lag well behind.

Rural unrest, often blamed on illegal land grabs, is also a growing problem.

There are thought to be thousands of protests a year across China, with farmers in villages whose land has been taken often directing their anger at corrupt local officials who skim off the profits when it is sold to developers.