Put Forth All Our Efforts to Fight Well the Battle to Popularize Nine Years of Compulsory Education

If we are to bring about the Four Modernizations, we must recognize that our key tools are science and technology and our foundation lies in education. Since the inception of our nation's reform and opening up to the outside world, the provincial Party committee of Fujian and the provincial government have consistently taken the popularization of nine years of compulsory education (NYCE) to be the basis of the growth and development of the entire educational enterprise and have given it their greatest attention. In accordance with the planning and preparations stipulated by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, our provincial Party committee and provincial government have focused solely on accomplishing the educational work of the entire province in the 1980s and 1990s. Then, in 1994, they further resolved that NYCE be basically popularized throughout the province by 1998 and proceeded to mobilize the entire society's forces to fight the battle to popularize NYCE. At this time, the battle has come to its final stage, and in all areas we are pushing toward the goals that have been set, in accordance with the plans and schedules, and fully aware of the need to ensure qualitative as well as quantitative accomplishment.