SCHOOLCHILDREN with hukou of Shenzhen and other Guangdong cities will be exempt from book costs and fees starting from the current semester, the city government announced Wednesday.

Under a new education policy, parents can save up to 1,042 yuan (US$147) for each child each year, depending on the age of the child. Senior high school students are not covered by the new policy.

It will benefit some 600,000 schoolchildren, 340,000 of whom do not have Shenzhen hukou, the Daily Sunshine said in a report Thursday.

Primary school pupils will be exempt from 728 yuan in fees each year, while junior high school students will save 1,042 yuan, according to the policy.

The exemption will extend to cover schoolchildren without Guangdong hukou when the new academic year starts in the fall.

The exempt fees, which will total 483 million yuan a year, will be paid jointly by the provincial, municipal and district governments, said Vice Mayor Yan Xiaopei at a press conference Wednesday. The provincial government will shoulder 43 million, while the rest will be shared by the Shenzhen municipal and district governments.

Yan said the policy signaled a major step forward in the provision of equal education for every child of school age. Schoolchildren without Shenzhen hukou were formerly required to pay extra charges ranging from 799 to 1,125 yuan each year, which their peers with hukou did not have to pay. (Wei Jie)