News Plus慢速英语:中国计划2016年普及残疾儿童义务教育 推进空气污染治理

This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mar Griffiths in Beijing.
In a related development, China will ensure that at least 90 percent of children with visual, hearing and mental disabilities get free primary and middle school education by the end of 2016.
According to a national plan on improving education for special children, there will be more investment, more infrastructure, more quality teachers and new special education curricula for special education in the country.
The plan was mapped out by seven departments, including the education, civil affairs and finance ministries, based on nationwide inspections and surveys.
The education ministry says despite obvious development in recent years, China's special education sector in general is still at a low level and suffers from regional imbalance.

College graduates in environmental engineering have seen their job prospects improve dramatically. This is the result of frequent bouts of serious smog that have prompted more effective steps to tackle air pollution.
From October to December last year, environmental protection positions became one of the top ten most popular jobs for the first time.
In He-fei, capital city of central China's An-hui Province, nearly 1,500 people were employed by environmental protection and air quality control departments. The figure is 85 percent higher than that in the previous quarter.
The employment rate of last year's university graduates who majored in environment or ecology sciences was also higher than average.
Graduates majoring in environment and ecology have seen an employment rate of 94 percent, compared with less than 90 percent on average in Jiangsu Province in eastern China.
China has been making enormous efforts to address pollution after decades of rapid economic growth.
In September last year, the central government issued an Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan to control PM 2.5, or airborne particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns.
The Action Plans also aimed at reducing the number of smoggy days.
It also includes limits on pollutant emissions, optimization of energy use and upgrades to technology.