中华人民共和国成立以来，为提高国民素质，政府致力于普及九年义务教育。九年义务教育是指小学和初中阶段共计9年的教育。1986年，中国制定了《中华人民共和国义务教育法》(Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republicof China)，这标志着从法律上确立了义务教育制度。从那以后，九年义务教育取得了显著的进展。2002年的数据显示，小学学龄儿童的入学率达到98.6%。2006年，新的义务教育法的颁布使义务教育向素质教育、免费教育大步迈进，促使中国的教育进入一个全新的发展阶段。

　　参考翻译:

　　Since the foundation of the People's Republic ofChina, the government has been devoted topopularizing the nine-year compulsory educationwith the aim to improve the national qualily. Thenine-year compulsory education refers to nine yearsof education in primary and junior secondary schools. In 1986，China formulated CompulsoryEducation Law of the People's Republic of China, which indicated that the compulsory educationsystem was legally established. Since then, the nine-year compulsory education had madesignificant progress. According to the statistics in 2002, the enrollment rate of primary school-aged children reached 98.6%. In 2006, the enacting of a new compulsory education law helpedthe compulsory education make great strides to quality-oriented education and free education, promoting the education in China into a new stage of development.

（编辑：赵宁）