For seven years, pensioner Zhang Jingxuan has struggled to keep Zhang Jiuzhou, his 13-year-old grandson, in school in Xi'an, capital of northwestern China's Shaanxi Province.

He and his wife earn 800 yuan (US$113) every month, from which they have to pay at least 2,000 yuan a year for the tuition and other school fees of his grandson, a student at the middle school affiliated to the Shaanxi No. 10 Cotton Textile Factory where Zhang Jingxuan once worked.

The couple were cheering when they heard the central government had promised to make free compulsory education universally available in both rural and urban areas from autumn this year.

The pledge was made in the government work report issued on Wednesday, a measure to promote fair education and discourage school dropouts.

It came the year after the government implemented free compulsory education in rural areas.

"I borrowed money from almost all my relatives before the fall semester started," said Zhang Jingxuan, 65, whose daughter divorced eight years ago and went to live in the southern city of Shenzhen, leaving her son to her parents.

"I don't know whom I can borrow money from for this fall semester," he said.

"It's really good news and I hope the measure will be implemented as soon as possible."

Wu Ni, director of the Education Development Research Department of the China National Institute for Educational Research, said Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report, to go through examination and deliberation by NPC deputies before being approved, will have far-reaching influence.

The measure will reduce the economic burden of urban low-income families, and "every child has the same access to education, and 'dropout' may become a term of the past," said Wu.

In the report, delivered at the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress, the premier said this year's central government allocation for education would increase from last year's 107.6 billion yuan to 156.2 billion yuan, and local governments would increase their spending.

Wang Xiaoshan, 35, a laid-off worker living in a government-subsidized residential quarter in western Beijing, said he and his wife had been worrying about the tuitions for their six-year-old daughter.

Wang and his wife earn 2,000 yuan a month and their daughter's one-semester tuition and miscellaneous fees cost 600 yuan.

"We feel much easier. My daughter will go to school like other children," said Wang.

In the government work report, the premier said, "China cannot modernize if education is not made universally available and if its quality is not improved."

The government stopped collecting tuition and other school fees in rural areas last spring, benefiting 150 million students including 7.8 million from poor families.