THE National People's Congress (NPC) is to make a high-profile move in the final lap of the effort to spread nine-year compulsory education throughout the country.

The year 2000 is the official deadline laid down in the Compulsory Education Law, adopted by the NPC in 1986, to provide nine years of compulsory education for all children.

Peng Peiyun, He Luli, Cheng Siwei, Xu Jialu and Jiang Zhenghua, all vice-chairpersons of the Standing Committee, will each lead a team of committee members to check progress in Henan and Hubei provinces, Chongqing Municipality, and the Xinjiang Uygur and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions.

It is very unusual for the Standing Committee to send out so many of its vice-chairpersons on the same mission at the same time.

From September 15 to October 22, the teams will listen to reports from local officials, visit schools, talk with teachers and parents, and review files. A general report on their findings will be presented to the Standing Committee's December session.

By the end of last year, the goal had only been attained in 2,242 counties, county-level cities and districts of big cities, where 73 per cent of the country's population inhabit. Only nine provinces and municipalities had fulfilled the requirements.

Twenty-three provinces failed last year to increase their education expenditure at a higher rate than the increase in government revenues, another requirement of the law.

It was these facts that spurred the Standing Committee into action.

Senior officials from the State Development Planning Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the National Audit Office and the State Administration of Taxation were also summoned to yesterday's meeting to give policy briefings to the legislators.

They said about 139.5 million children of school age are attending primary schools, about 98.9 per cent of the total. In what can be called remarkable progress, the dropout rate of girls is now almost the same as that of boys, according to ministry sources. Three years ago, girls made up 70 per cent of dropouts, according to official sources.

Inadequate investment, a shortage of high-quality teachers and an out-of-date curriculum remain the major problems of compulsory education, ministry sources said.

Vice-Minister of Finance Zhang Youcai said that, in the coming five years, the percentage of education spending in the central government's budget will be increased by one percentage point each year. He did not reveal the current proportion.