College doors open wider for Yushu students
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High school graduates from earthquake-ravaged Yushu prefecture of Northwest China's Qinghai province will have greater opportunities to enter college due to favorable policies from the Ministry of Education.
Students who sit this year's college entrance examination in Yushu will receive additional test points and colleges have been instructed to give preference to students from the quake-hit area if they meet minimum admission requirements, the ministry said in a notice published on its website on Saturday.
Additional places for students from the quake-hit region will be opened up, the ministry said.
"These favorable policies are to ensure this year's college entrance admission rate in Yushu is higher than last year," it said.
Even for those who fail this year's exam, the education department in Qinghai will offer the students various opportunities to continue their education or receive vocational training, according to the ministry.
In China, the college entrance exam is held in early June every year. About 1,000 students from Yushu's senior high schools are expected to sit this year's exam along with students from across the country.
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Yushu of Qinghai on April 14, killing at least 2,200 people.
All of the students from Yushu resumed classes by April 23 to prepare for the exam.
This is not the first time the Ministry of Education has issued favorable policies for students from quake-hit regions.
In 2008, after the devastating earthquake in Southwest China's Sichuan province, the ministry required all universities to modify their enrolment by increasing the number of places for Sichuan students by 2 percent.
On Saturday, Premier Wen Jiabao paid his second visit to Yushu since the quake and presided over a meeting on reconstruction work.
He said the priority for relief work is to ensure the day-to-day activities of quake-affected people. Every person should have basic living necessities and a supply of grain, edible oil, vegetables, coal and fuel oil should be properly arranged.
Wen also urged the relevant authorities to draft a complete post-quake reconstruction plan as soon as possible. The target is to finish the reconstruction work within three years or less, he said.
Considering the difficulties faced by Yushu and Qinghai province, Wen said the central government will be the primary provider of funding for reconstruction.
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