China plans to hire 52,300 college graduates this year to work as primary and middle school teachers at under-developed rural areas in central and western regions, a notice said on Tuesday.

The notice, issued by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance, said the special recruitment effort is expected to improve the teaching quality in rural schools and increase the number of teachers in subjects such as physical education, foreign languages, science and art.

The recruitment drive is mainly seeking teachers for schools in once-impoverished regions, counties undergoing the rural vitalization efforts and those inhabited by minority ethnic groups.

The teachers should have bachelor degrees at minimum and be no more than 30 years old. Higher vocational school graduates majoring in education are also eligible to apply.

The central government will continue to allocate extra subsidies to the teachers, and they should enjoy the same salary level and other benefits as local public school teachers.

They also are entitled to preferential policies in attaining professional titles and year-end reviews.

Since the program was launched in 2006, 1.03 million college graduates have been hired to work at rural schools, according to the Ministry of Education.