Less than one percent of the teachers in China's senior high schools in 2003 have a postgraduate education background, according to statistics of China's Ministry of Education.

The statistics also show that 32.6 percent of the teaching staff in China's institutions of higher learning received postgraduate education, up 1.4 percentage points from 2002.

A Chinese educational expert said China still has to improve the ratio of teachers with higher educational background in its senior high schools and institutions of higher learning.

The statistics show by 2003, 40.5 percent of China's primary school teachers had earned associate degrees or more, up 7.4 percent from 2002. In China's junior high school, 23.8 percent of teachers have received a bachelor's degree or more, up 4.1 percent.

According to official statistics, China had 1,396 institutions of higher learning in 2002, which employ 618,000 teachers. China's 80,067 high schools employed 4.38 million teachers.
 
(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2004)