China spent nearly 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) to support education for poor students, a media report said Thursday.
The total amount spent on sponsoring students reached 98.62 billion yaun in 2011, up by 15.94 percent over the previous year, the China Daily reported.
About 130 million primary and secondary school students received free textbooks.
The government subsidy is a major initiative to boost education for all.