A large-scale volunteer-teacher program was launched for supporting education in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The first batch of 4,000 volunteer teachers will be in position by spring 2018, while the total number of teachers to be involved in the program will reach up to 10,000 in the coming years.

　　With the aim of improving local education in Tibet and Xinjiang, the program was co-initiated by the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

　　As planned, a batch of prominent teachers will be selected from other provinces and sent to Tibet and Xinjiang each year, taking a 1.5-year session for each batch. The first batch will be in position by spring 2018. Provinces with difficulties can postpone the date to autumn 2018 at latest.

　　Regarding the local need in Tibet and Xinjiang, teachers will be constituted by a majority of science teachers specializing in middle school education and combining teachers of other subjects and teachers from primary schools.

　　Ten to 20 teachers will make up a team for one school in Tibet and Xinjiang. The team will be under the administration of both their original schools and local schools.