BEIJING -- China will recruit 105,000 college graduates to teach in impoverished rural schools of the nine-year compulsory education stage across the country's central and western regions this year, according to a notice jointly released by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance.

The move is part of a national program to enhance the rural teaching force, bridge the educational gap between urban and rural areas and boost rural revitalization through better education, according to the notice.

This year, the recruitment will not set the professional teaching certificate as a restrictive qualification, said the notice, adding that it will tilt in the favor of graduates from Hubei province and from universities in Hubei.

Also, new teachers hired with the program will be primarily sent to schools in extremely poor areas and rural places seriously affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the notice.

The Ministry of Finance pledged to earmark special funds to subsidize the salaries for teachers recruited under the program.

The year 2020 marked the 15th anniversary of the initiation of the program.