Top education officials from nine countries that account for half the world's population  gather this week in Beijing to discuss ways to improve schools  through distance-learning methods,according to today's China Daily.

    The focus on distance-learning is key because nations now  hope to provide continuous education prospects for people in  far-flung areas using new technologies, said John Sagar Daniel,  assistant director-general for education of the United Nations  Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization （UNESCO）.

    The meeting is the fourth such meeting held by UNESCO. Participants sending officials include China, India, Bangladesh, Brazil,Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan.

    These nations account for 70 per cent of the world's illiterate  population, officials said.

    Distance-learning provides classes and study materials via  television, videotape, correspondence and the Internet.

    The three-day meeting ends tomorrow.

    China has listed distance-learning as an important part  of its education development blueprint for the 10th Five-Year  Plan period （2001-05）, said Li Lianning, director of the Department for Basic Education under the Ministry of Education.

    The poor and inhospitable conditions and teacher shortages  in China's central and western areas make distance-learning  methods a desirable means of bringing education to the masses,  Li said. The ministry and Hong Kong-based Li Ka-shing Foundation  have launched a project to offer more Internet, television and  broadcasting access facilities in these areas.

    In 1993, the UNESCO listed the above nine populous countries  as priorities for education and decided to hold biannual education  ministerial meetings.