China's State Council, the highest governing body, passed a decision on Wednesday to greatly boost vocational education.

The executive meeting, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, stressed out that to develop vocational education is important to improving China's industrial production, raising farmers' income and boosting employment.

The meeting set a target to raise the annual enrollment of intermediate-level vocational education schools to 8 million in 2010, or roughly the same as that of regular senior high schools. That constitutes a big increase over the enrollment of some 5 million in 2003.

The annual enrollment of vocational education colleges, according to the meeting, should account for more than 50 percent of the total enrollment of colleges and universities by 2010.

The number of undergraduate students in vocational colleges stood at 4.8 million in 2003, only 42 percent of that in regular institutions of higher learning.

The meeting also spelled out major tasks in this field, including reforming the teaching practices, raising the quality of teachers and enhancing educational level of vocational education institutions. 

Chinese factories have experienced shortage of skilled workers in recent years. The problem is partly caused by China's fast economic growth and the imbalanced educational structure.

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2005)