China is to extend the compulsory¹ education to encompass² high schools nationwide by 2020, according to The Guideline for Popularizing High School Education (2017-2020), recently released by the Ministry³ of Education.

根据教育部日前发布的《高中阶段教育普及攻坚计划(2017—2020年)》，到2020年，我国将在全国范围内把高中阶段纳入到义务教育。

It aims to raise the gross enrolment ratio for high schools to above 90% on average nationwide with rates in central and western China substantially improved.

此项计划旨在将全国范围内的高中平均毛入学率提升至90%以上，中西部入学率显著增长。

Last year, China's overall gross enrollment ratio was 87.5% for high schools, meaning a rise of 2.5 percentage points in the next four years, according to the guideline.

去年，我国高中的总体毛入学率为87.5%，根据此项计划，未来四年高中毛入学率将上升2.5个百分点。

Meanwhile, the document said the country is set to achieve a more reasonable structure between high school and secondary occupational education.

与此同时，文件指出，我国将在高中和中等职业教育之间建立更加合理的结构。

In addition, the schools in central and western areas will enjoy more funds and better facilities to significantly improve the quality of education.

此外，中西部地区的学校将享有更多的资金和更好的设备以显著提升其教育质量。

High school is a special and important stage for most Chinese students. That's why high school has been considered a key period to improve quality of the nation's human resources.

对于大多数中国学生来说，高中都是一个特殊而又重要的阶段。这就是为什么高中被认为是提高一个国家人才资源质量的关键时期。

The guideline was in line with China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), which pledges to popularize high school education by the end of this period.

这份指导方针和中国的“十三五”计划相一致，该计划曾承诺在五年计划的后期，实现高中教育的普及。