offering rural students more qualified teachers, but rather an overall improved education system and a thorough implementation of compulsory education, which guarantees every poor child a chance to be educated. Rural educators should be more respected and their lives well secured, instead of being poorly paid. Their social status and income should be strengthened to attract more outstanding teachers.

Deng Haijian (Henan Business Daily): A survey concerning the loss of teaching resources in primary and secondary schools in less developed west China showed that more than 30 percent of teachers there are willing to make the move from rural to urban areas, east to west, and average to key schools. This results from an increasingly evident imbalance of teaching resources characterized by regional differences.

Though popularization of compulsory education in rural China is a priority of China's development, a rigid contract and heavy penalties for defaulters cannot be effective unless teachers are well respected and paid.

Xiao Le (China Youth Daily): A number of poor students are forced to take this free education program out of fear that they will not be able to afford costly university life. However, these students are in reality keen to be rid of their financial burdens and seek to improve their lives through the higher income of a better job. Earnings for rural teachers are comparatively low and stringent budgets cannot secure them regular payments.

Inaccessible transportation, tough living conditions and low incomes might make life even harder for these poor students after graduation and devastate their confidence in a teaching career.

While we may increase penalties to punish defaulters, the secret of maintaining these competent teaching resources, after expiration of the contract, is inspiration, something that is far more effective than punishment.

Zhu Xinmei (Jiangnan City Daily): The Chinese Government is committed to education improvement, particularly in rural areas. This free teacher-training program is no more than a temporary stopgap at best. Getting more students to choose teaching as a life career means teachers should be well respected, and receive improved incentives. Most importantly, rural teachers should be given real benefits, like the raising of their salaries and social status.

Matter of choice

Teng Zhaoyang (Nanfang Daily): Expensive fees stop many poor students from realizing their lofty dreams of going to university. However, the free teacher-training program will undoubtedly enable the luckiest ones to continue with their studies. As long as they enjoy the preferential treatment, they should fulfill their obligations; otherwise it would be a waste of state money. They are entitled not to choose this free education if the preconditions are hard to accept.

As a matter of fact, a certain number of normal university graduates have chosen non-teaching jobs. If not compulsory, those reluctant to move to rural schools will create a new social injustice, caused by a waste of teaching resources at normal universities.

Chun Hua (Modern Express): It has been said that without due respect for their right to freedom of choice, poor students are forced to become rural teachers.

But an overemphasis on individual rights will not be realistic in a market economy, where rights and obligations are balanced. The students are allowed to take other options. For those who have no interest in becoming teachers, they should not sign up to the program. If they do, they should be responsible teachers.

This free education program is essentially for training of rural teachers, and a contract between students and schools is necessary to avoid unnecessary losses. However, students are not legally obliged to follow it through as long as they pay back the tuition fees.

Lin Dashou (Henan Business Daily): This new scheme should be applauded for providing rural China with more teachers.

Most Chinese rural workers have to save every cent to send their children to universities. Upon graduation, however, an overwhelming majority of them stay on in big cities, which can easily create a skill imbalance in rural and urban development.

The new policy will help narrow this rural-urban gap and reinforce the buildup of teaching resources in rural primary and secondary schools.

Xiao Rui (www. nanfangdaily.com.cn): Criticism incurred by this 10-year mandatory service policy is being driven by the call to protect students' right to choose. This effectively ignores the right to being educated in China's vast rural areas. Will the life of university graduates be "ruined," while the fate of rural children is changed through better rural education? Whether the 10-year prerequisite is rigorous or not, the choice, ultimately, comes down to the individual.