Published by: World Tibet Network News, Thursday, October 3, 1996

BEIJING, Oct 3 (Reuter) - Chinese authorities aim to set up primary schools in every town and middle schools in every county in Tibet by the year 2000 as part of efforts to eliminate illiteracy, the People's Daily said on Thursday.

A new law passed by the regional parliament recently was part of a drive by authorities to get 80 percent of Tibetan children into schools by the end of the century, the newspaper said in its overseas edition.

More than 69 percent of Tibet's 2.3 million people have not received any formal schooling and about 40 percent are illiterate or semi-literate.

Tibet's educational authorities established educational targets in 1994 but only recently enacted them into law, the newspaper said.

The poor, backward Himalayan region now had more than 250,000 children studying in about 3,950 primary schools and 78 middle schools, it said. The medium of instruction is both Chinese and Tibetan.

Tibetan exiles have accused Chinese authorities of trying to assimilate Tibet.