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China launches

drive against

illiteracy

BEIJING: China's State Education Commission launched its latest campaign against illiteracy on Monday, saying two million Chinese a year were still leaving school unable to read or write.

The Commission unveiled its latest long-term and five-year education plans under which it hoped to eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged people -- those over 15 years old or born since 1949 when the Communists seized power -- by 2010, the Xinhua news agency said.

Under the plans, the State Education Commission vowed to cut illiteracy among those aged between 15 and 47 from around one in 14 today to less than one in 20 by the year 2000 and to eliminate illiteracy in that age group completely by 2010, Xinhua said.

Of a total of 145 million illiterate Chinese, 33 million are aged 15 to 47, Xinhua said. The Education Commission acknowledged that illiteracy in China was climbing by about two million a year.

The Commission's long-term plan also called on colleges, universities and professional schools to start billing wealthy students and for local governments to take over many institutions now run by the state. Of China's 1,057 colleges and universities, 369 are under central government control.-Reuter