BEIJING - A white paper on Sunday said boarding schools in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region can help consolidate universal access to compulsory education and promote balanced education.

Titled "Xinjiang Population Dynamics and Data," the white paper issued by the State Council Information Office slammed the false claim made by anti-China forces that boarding schools in Xinjiang were built for separating Uygur parents from their children.

Due to Xinjiang's vast land area of 1,664,900 square km, villages and towns are far from each other and residents in some farming and pastoral areas are sparsely distributed, making the daily travel between home and school very difficult for some students, according to the white paper.

Establishing boarding schools is a standard practice in China's compulsory education, and it is up to students' families to decide whether to board or not, said the white paper.