Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday that China will try to have the educational cause be targeted at the general public and ensure everyone the opportunity to receive education.

"Education is the footstone of a modernized country and a country's development depends at last on improving the competence of the public," the premier said at a press conference held after the annual session of the Tenth China's National People's Congress was closed.

The competence of the ordinary people has a direct bearing on the competence of the general public in a country as most people in the world belong to common class, he said.

China, with a 1.3 billion population and 900 million of them in the countryside, has a higher proportion of ordinary people. "The reason why we prioritize compulsory and occupational education is that we will make our education orientated toward the common people and have everyone receive education," said the premier

China has set up a structure to consolidate and popularize compulsory education, highly develop occupational education and improve higher education, he said, adding that the government will try to achieve further results in the three areas.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2006)