At a recent State Council conference on education over the coming five years, Premier Li Keqiang said more breakthroughs are needed to promote both the quality and fairness of education to make sure more children from rural and poor families get sound education for personal and social development.

He shared what he found during a visit to Pudong village in Southwest China's Guizhou province, where people are poor but feel life is hopeful, because over 20 children from the village have entered colleges over the past several years. It is necessary to encourage domestic universities to enlarge their reserved entrance quota for rural regions, so that children in these areas, especially those from poor families, see hope of a better future.

That echoes Li's promise of enhancing social fairness upon taking office more than two years ago. Educational equality is an essential part of social fairness because it puts children on the same starting line in social competition and brings hope for a better life.

In the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), China will continue to push forward education reform, in which educational equality is expected to be a key goal. That comes together with the efforts to improve higher education which is expected to become both sounder and more equal between urban and rural areas.