Over 1,500 Graduates to Teach in Poor Regions

Over 1,500 college graduates will teach in poverty-stricken areas in 2013 as part of a year-long volunteer program organized by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the Ministry of Education.

The program, launched in 1999, calls for the annual selection of college graduates to teach for one year in primary and secondary schools in poor regions, allowing participating students to enter graduate schools without taking entrance exams in exchange for one year of service.

This year's students will be sent to 12 underdeveloped western provinces, as well as three ethnic minority regions.

This year also marks an expansion of the program, with its enrollment quota increased by 670 and the number of universities eligible to participating in the program increased by 45.