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By more after-school recreation centers will be built for teenagers
throughout China to enrich their lives, according to a group
of cabinet-level ministries and commissions.
Officials from 30 ministries and commissions under the State
Council have set up the Joint Conference System for Youngsters'
Out-of-Class Education to improve facilities dealing with fitness,
culture and science, sources from the Ministry of Education
said.
The State has sold 2 billion yuan (US$240 million) worth of
lottery tickets this year, 600 million yuan (US$72 million)
of which will be used to build such centers in Central and Western
areas. These regions are in dire need of such facilities, said
Feng Jianshen, an official with the Ministry of Finance, at
the first meeting of the joint conference in Beijing.
In the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05), the State will
continue to support the construction of children's palaces and
recreation centers by selling lottery tickets, said Feng.
The establishment of the joint conference is good news for teenagers
because it will accelerate the building of recreation centers
and make their lives more interesting, said Minister of Education
Chen Zhili.
She said the central government has paid a great deal of attention
to the improvement of students' teaching, as well as the promotion
of other areas such as morality and fitness.
More effort will be made to build community-based children's
palaces and recreation centers, said Chen.
China has built a large number of science museums, children's
palaces and recreation centers since it implemented its reform
and opening-up policies in the late 1970s.
But some of these places have become dance, video or game halls,
set up to make money, said Chen. She urged regional governmental
departments to consider recreation facilities for children in
their urban plans.
In China, well-equipped children's centers are mainly located
in better developed eastern areas, according to Vice-Minister
of Education Wang Zhan.
About 30 percent of counties in Central areas and 90 percent
in Western regions have no after school centers for students.
The joint conference will help 140 counties in western areas
and 20 in central regions set up children's centers each year,
said Wang.
(China Daily 10/09/2000)
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