Xinhua is the official news agency of the People's Republic of China

LHASA (Oct. 2) XINHUA - At least four out of five school age children in the Tibet Autonomous Region will be receiving compulsory school education by the end of the century.

The target has been set in a set of regulations on the development of fundamental education in Tibet, passed by the Regional People's Congress, the local legislative body.

The regulations also state that before 2000, each county of Tibet must have at least one middle school, and each Tibetan township must have a complete primary school.

Due to different conditions and educational levels, the terms of compulsory education in pastoral areas, farming areas, and towns and cities are respectively three, six, and nine years.

Statistics show that the fundamental education in Tibet has enjoyed a fast development during the past few years.

During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period (1991-1995), the autonomous region opened 24 new middle schools and 1,466 new primary schools, while the number of school children rose by 24 percentage points over the previous five years.

A recent survey showed that Tibet now has 87 middle schools with 33,000 students, and 3,950 primary schools with over 250,000 students.