1994, the enrolment at schools, at various levels and of various kinds throughout the country, already reached 270 million, the schooling rate of school-age children reached 98.4 percent, the illiteracy rate of young and middle-aged people dropped to 7 percent, primary education was made universal in areas with 91 percent of the country's population, the major cities and some of the developed regions basically popularized junior middle school education, and infant education as well as the special education for handicapped children developed steadily. Secondary vocational and technical education developed quickly, and enrolment has reached 8.446 million, accounting for 56 percent of the total number of students at the level of senior middle school. Countrywide, over 200 million farmers have received various kinds of education in general knowledge and practical skills.
5. Family planning has further liberated the female productive forces and helped improve the status of women.
Family planning in China has extricated women from frequent births after marriage and the heavy family burden, further liberated and expanded the social productive forces latent in women, and provided them with more opportunities to learn science and general knowledge and take part in economic and social development activities, hence greatly promoted the improvement of the Chinese women's status in economic and social affairs as well as in their families.
The employment rate of women has steadily increased and sphere of employment has continuously expanded. By the end of 1992, the number of female staff and workers had reached 56 million in China, accounting for 38 percent of the national total of staff and workers and representing a 24.1 percent increase over the 45 million in 1985. In the 1979-88 period, the growth rate of employment for urban women had always been higher than that for men, with the average annual increase standing at 4.9 percent, 1.27 percentage point higher than the average annual increase of all staff and workers countrywide. The overwhelming majority of Chinese women are located in the countryside, and they are the major force of the agricultural production and diversified economy in the country. They are that part of the population to benefit most from the policy of family planning. In 1989, a move of "double learnings" (of general knowledge and techniques) and "double competitions" (in achievements and contributions) was launched in China's rural areas, appealing to 120 million rural women. Of this total, more than 90 million received training in practical techniques, over 15,000 were cited as model women workers at and above the provincial level, more than 510,000 were given the title of farmer technician, and 1.067 million scientific and technological demonstration households, with women as the major body, came to the fore. In China's rural areas, some 40 million women are employed in township enterprises, accounting for 47 percent of the total work force in these enterprises.
Family planning has provided women with more opportunities to receive education and is conducive to raising their educational qualities. At present, the average schooling for adult women in China's urban areas totals 9.97 years. Of these women, those who have received education of senior middle school or higher account for 56.3 percent; those who have received junior middle school education account for 33.3 percent; those who have received primary school education account for 8.3 percent; and those who are illiterate and semi-illiterate account for only 2.1 percent. For the previous generation, however, those with senior middle school education and higher account for only 9.1 percent; those with junior middle school education, 11.1 percent; those with primary school education, 24.5 percent; and illiterates and semi-illiterates, 55.3 percent. For adult women in the rural areas, those with senior middle school education or higher make up 8.9 percent; those with junior middle school education, 26.6 percent; those with primary school education, 27.9 perce