In a Ministry of Education program covering the next five years , the government will implement measures to realize its aims of nine-year compulsory education in China's western region and the basic elimination of young and middle-aged illiteracy and the popularization of high level, high quality nine-year compulsory education in the east and central rural areas. At the same time, the government is to promote the development of modern distance learning for rural elementary and high schools and further improve rural compulsory education management systems.