College students in a civilian formation marched past the Tian'anmen Rostrum, waving different colorful Chinese university school flags, under a float featuring China's educational progress since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

A float in this formation carrying a banner that reads "education is a cause of fundamental importance for the future of our nation", rolled past the Tian'anmen Square, where a grand military and civilian parade was held Thursday morning to celebrate the 60th founding anniversary of the PRC.

Zhou Ji, China's Minister of Education, was a teacher in western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region more than 30 years ago. Zhou told Xinhua that the government set great store by education development since the founding of the PRC, especially since the reform and opening up three decades ago, helping to greatly improve the conditions for children living in rural areas in particular.

China' s nine-year compulsory education policy, which was launched in 1986, enabling students over six years old nationwide to have free education at both primary and secondary schools, has made great achievements in recent years, covering more than 160 million primary and middle school students so far in both rural and urban areas.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2009)