Investment in education, especially in the countryside, should be given priority when the central government allocates funds from the 4-trillion-yuan (US$586 billion) stimulus package, Gu Bingling, president of Tsinghua University, said on Thursday.

"Every cent spent on education would probably yield greater benefits than every cent spent on anything else, especially over the long term," he said.

"By attaching greater importance to education, we could partly avoid myopic and rash decision-making, which could undermine our efforts to increase domestic demand and stimulate the economy."

Gu said priority should be given to education in the country's vast and impoverished rural areas.

"The imbalanced distribution of educational resources lies at the heart of the country's economic and social woes," he said.

"It's time for us to address the issue at its very foundation."

The lack of schools and teachers in rural areas has made it commonplace for up to 70 students to cram into a single classroom, he said.

"Such a student-to-teacher ratio usually means pupils receive little individual attention," he added.

"Attention from instructors becomes all the more important in light of the fact that most students' parents are farmers, who are unable to offer their children much guidance," Gu said.

"If we could divide the classes into smaller groups, comprising an average of 30 to 40 students, we could achieve a much better quality of rural education."

The Tsinghua University president, who is also a member of the second session of the National Committee of the CPPCC, said the government should offer "concrete economic incentives" to attract teachers to the countryside.

"Before entering university, I followed my father everywhere, living and attending schools in six provinces across the country," he recalled.

"Back then, top university graduates were encouraged to teach in some of China's remotest areas, including Inner Mongolia, where I stayed for some time."

The practice was common in the 1950s and 1960s.

"As a result, I was able to receive consistently high-quality education without a single hiccup," he said.

"That era has passed, and the government needs to provide financial compensation for those willing to work in less-developed areas.

"That's where the stimulus money should go."

Gu said he believed low incomes to be the biggest obstacle in the way of university grads desperate for work in a worsening job market and teaching in rural schools.

"Some from lesser-known universities may find it extremely hard to land a suitable job in the cities, but they are more than welcome in the rural areas," he said.

"They could teach everything, from English to mathematics."

English teachers are rarities in some rural areas, with up to five middle schools sharing one instructor, he said.

Money from the stimulus package should also be spent on technology for education, Gu said.

"Imagine if we buy one computer for every rural class - how many computers would that be?" he said.

"That's one way to spend the money that we will not regret 10 years later."

The deputy also lamented that many students were buried under shoddily-constructed school buildings after the May 12 earthquake last year.

"In Japan, primary and secondary school buildings are the places people rush to in order to hide during an earthquake, because they are sturdier than regular structures," he said.

"How about we build more of those?"

(China Daily March 13, 2009)