BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 53,000 newly recruited university graduates are heading to less-developed and rural areas for an annual volunteer service program, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) said Tuesday.
The volunteers, selected by local authorities and universities nationwide, will be dispatched to 27 provincial-level regions, including Xinjiang, Xizang, Jilin and Guizhou, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. They will take up grassroots volunteer posts in these areas.
According to the CYLC Central Committee, participants will serve one to three years in fields including rural education, rural development, rural healthcare, grassroots social governance and community-level youth work.
More than 90 percent of the posts are based in townships and villages, underscoring the program's focus on strengthening services at the grassroots level, the statement said.
Since the program was launched in 2003, nearly 600,000 university graduates have answered the call to volunteer in western regions, rural areas and grassroots communities. ■
