Update: Education enrollments in Xinjiang reach highest level in history: white paper

Students have a class at the Xuesong middle school in Aketao County of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 25, 2020.  (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — Enrollments in various kinds of education in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have all reached the highest level in history, according to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office on Thursday.

In 2019, there were 453,800 full-time students studying at universities and colleges in Xinjiang, an increase of 146,200 over 2014, and 1.84 million students studying at secondary schools, an increase of 147,600 over 2014, says the white paper titled “Employment and Labor Rights in Xinjiang.”

Through vocational training, Xinjiang has built a large knowledge-based, skilled and innovative workforce that meets the requirements of the new era, it says.

Every year from 2014 to 2019 Xinjiang provided training sessions to an average of 1.29 million urban and rural workers, of which 451,400 were in southern Xinjiang.

The trainees mastered at least one skill with employment potential, and the vast majority of them obtained vocational qualifications, skill level certificates, or specialized skill certificates, allowing them to go on to find stable employment, says the white paper.  ■