Chinese Premier announces efforts to improve rural education

Here's an excerpt from the report in the New York Times.

The government will take new steps to recruit top-level educators to China, to improve teacher training and and to direct talented teachers to impoverished rural areas.

This comment follows a broader and not geographically specific statement about efforts to improve the lives of the poor, including through increased spending on "low-income housing, pensions, education, and health care." China is, of course, a rapidly developing country as evinced by some of the data Wen Jiabao provided in his announcement:

• 800,000 aging homes renovated in 2009
• 165,000 miles of power lines upgraded
• 3,450 miles of new rail lines laid
• 2,900 miles of new freeways opened
• 35 airports built from scratch or renovated

The NYT story does not indicate whether the Prime Minister made any other mentions of rural needs and development in his 35-page speech.