About 12,000 students will enjoy four-year study free of charge at six elite teaching universities this year thanks to a new policy of the Chinese government.

Wang Xuming, spokesman with the Ministry of Education, said at a press conference on Friday that six top teaching universities in Beijing, Shanghai, Changchun, Wuhan, Xi'an and Chongqing plan to enroll about 12,000 students after the national college entrance examination slated for June this year.

Most of the students will come from China's central and western region, Wang noted.

From September this year when the autumn semester begins, tuition and accommodation fees will be scrapped for freshmen majoring in education at the six teaching universities under the Ministry of Education.

The students will also be granted an allowance.

The cost of the measure will be covered by the central budget, according to a trial program approved by the State Council on May 9 this year.

To be eligible for free tuition, the student must agree to work at a primary or middle school for at least ten years after graduation and spend the first two years in a rural school.

Students who have a change of heart during their studies can choose another occupation on graduation, according to the measures, but in this case they must pay back the tuition fees in full.

The central government has asked local education departments and schools to get prepared and to ensure all of the 12,000 students can find a job at a middle or primary school upon graduation, said Song Yonggang, deputy head of the ministry's teacher's education office on the same press conference.

China currently has more than 10.43 million teachers in its middle and primary schools. Many schools, particularly rural one, are in short of competent teachers.

Offering free education for future teachers had been a policy in China for decades until the 1990s, when a market-oriented policy was introduced by the government.

Education at most universities -- tuition, accommodation and expenses -- costs a student an average of about 10,000 yuan (US$1,280) a year so the measures represent savings of about 40,000 yuan (US$5,120) over a four-year course of study.

Reporting to the National People's Congress in March, Premier Wen Jiabao said the government will institute free education for students majoring in education in teacher colleges directly under the Ministry of Education.

"The measure will demonstrate to the general public the importance of the teaching field, create an atmosphere of respect for teachers and education in society, increase awareness of the value of the educational profession, produce large numbers of outstanding teachers, encourage prominent educators to run schools and spur more outstanding young people to become lifelong educators," Wen said.

The new policy will be extended to more teachers' colleges will pioneering programs at the six universities prove successful, the Ministry said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2007)