China's top legislative body will launch a three-month investigation into officials who divert funds earmarked for education to other purposes.
Inspection teams will be dispatched to six provinces by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in an attempt to halt the abuses.
State spending on education fell to 2.4 per cent of gross national product in 1995, down from 2.68 per cent in 1994, despite China's aim of increasing educational spending to four per cent by 2000, Director of the Education Department of the NPC, Shao Jinrong, said. Unpaid teachers' salaries now amounted to 290 million yuan (HK$269 million), he added.
Various government departments, such as the State Planning Commission, the State Education Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State General Administration of Taxation were urged to make a greater effort to solve the financial crisis in education.
Government expenditure now accounts for 80 per cent of the nation's education funding. The other sources are tax revenue on education and contributions from state enterprises.
'Only 80 per cent of education tax revenue due from cities and 70 per cent from rural villages have been collected. Action will be taken to ensure the collection of these taxes,' Mr Shao, a former official of the State Education Commission, said.
