URUMQI — Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has supported more than 4.2 million students with financial difficulties in 2018, according to the regional education department.

The region has waived tuition fees, and offered scholarships, grants, subsidies and loans for all levels of students with financial difficulties from kindergarten to university, according to the department.

In 2019, the region will continue to focus on using education to help shake off poverty in the southern areas, and give preference to the most difficult groups to help them enjoy high-quality education.

Starting from October, 2016, school fees for all public kindergartens in the rural areas of Xinjiang have been paid by the government.

Xinjiang is also China’s first provincial-level region to offer 15 years of free education from pre-school to high school.