The revamped schools, which lacked adequate educational facilities and highly qualified teachers, have shrugged off their bad image and all have passed assessment tests.

"The plan to revamp these schools among the city's 1,600 primary schools and 300 middle schools has great significance for education and is closely linked to economic and cultural development and the overall quality of our citizens," Cai said yesterday.

Starting in 1987, the local government began to improve comparatively poor schools that needed special attention due to their lack of funds, lack of good administrations and difficulty in attracting good teachers and students.

Efforts taken to improve those schools include offering special subsidies to teachers, allocating larger funds to the schools and enlarging schoolyards. In some cases, reputable schools have been merged with "less privileged" ones, resulting in higher educational standards and larger schools which help further development, Cai added.

The injection of experienced teachers from outside Guangdong Province has proved successful. Many new graduates from local educational institutes have also been specially sent to these schools in recent years.

(China Daily 03/20/2001)