Southwest China's Yunnan Province are planning to extend the free compulsory education period to 13 years by 2020 Authorities in Yunnan Province, local education authority reported on Thursday.

"We started a pilot program in 33 counties, cities and districts on January 1, and aim to take it province-wide by 2020," Beijing-based newspaper China Daily quoted Luo Chongmin, director of Yunnan provincial education department as saying.

By doing so, the southwestern province will boast the longest free education period -- the national standard is nine years.

Some places in the country, such as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Guangdong and Shandong provinces, now offer 12 years' free education to some students, up to senior high school.

Yunnan's plan includes an extra year of pre-school education.

But Luo conceded the move will test Yunnan's financial brawn.

As a province where the annual income for farmers is just 2,000 yuan (about US$300), "we'll meet a lot of difficulties in the process," Luo said.

The province will eliminate excess after-class lessons from March 1 in all public schools to lessen students' burden, he said.

Regulating the amount of homework for students and promoting physical exercise are also top of the agenda, Luo said.

"When teachers are busy running after-school classes and asking students to do lots of assignments, children suffer psychological torture."

He said he has sent 102 supervisors to tour schools to check how they carried out the policies.

"If schools are found violating the orders, the penalty will be severe: headmasters will be removed from their posts and so will teachers."

At least 6 million students are now studying in the province's 20,000 primary and middle schools.

Yunnan will establish 10 more Confucius Institutes in Southeastern and South Asian countries during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).

The province has already set up five Confucius Institutes - nonprofit public institutions designed to promote Chinese language and culture.

Also, the province intends to expand the number of foreign students from 5,287 last year to 10,000 in the next few years.

It will attract more foreign teachers to work in the province and open more private schools.

"We'll try our best to expand the number of private institutions of higher learning from the current ratio of 4.7 percent to more than 10 percent over the next five to 10 years," Luo said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2009)