A deputy to the National People's Congress wants lawmakers to consider extending the country's current nine-year compulsory education program to 12 years.

Deputy Liu Weixing, who is also president of the Anhui branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, listed four main reasons for the change: ￥ To help train more technical workers. Chinese enterprises are now forced to employ large numbers of less capable people because of a shortage of trained technicians. ￥ To ease unemployment. The country's population of those above age 16 will increase by an average 5.5 million annually in the coming two decades, bringing the total labor force to 940 million by 2020. An extended compulsory education program would enable them to be employed three or even years later. ￥ To provide "knowledge assets" for poor families. A 12-year compulsory education program is like "sending charcoal in snowy weather" to rural families and poverty-stricken urban households, he said. ￥ To help solve rural issues, a centerpiece of the plan by Chinese leadership to achieve balanced economic development and social harmony. An extended compulsory education program will cover more farmers and help them add to their incomes, Liu said. The current nine-year compulsory education program from primary to junior high school covers nearly 94 percent of the Chinese population. Liu noted that the country's rapid economic growth has created good conditions for a 12-year compulsory education program, while the increasing scale of higher-learning institutions have made it possible to enroll more students. "The time (for the implementation) is ripe now," he said. Liu suggested that school systems across China add to their educational programs in line with their individual conditions. Beijing has already announced a plan for 12-year compulsory education, while the country's economic hub Shanghai said it had achieved the goal and was moving toward an even higher objective: a 14-year compulsory education program. (Xinhua)