JINAN — East China's Shandong province spent in excess of 1 trillion yuan (about $154.9 billion) on education during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), according to the provincial department of finance.

For the past five years, education expenditure each year has accounted for more than 20 percent of the province's total annual fiscal expenditure, said the department.

Basic education, vocational education, and higher education respectively accounted for 63.4 percent, 11.2 percent, and 9.3 percent of total education expenditure, according to the department.

The three-year gross enrollment rate for preschool education in the province increased from 81.97 percent in 2015 to 90.4 percent in 2019.