SHENZHEN education authorities plan to build dozens of new schools and expand existing ones this year to accommodate increasing numbers of migrant children.According to the municipal education bureau, the local government will build 47 new primary and middle schools and expand 69 existing schools at a cost of 500 million yuan (US$60.53 million). The new projects would provide an additional 98,000 school places.Shenzhen last year provided education for 640,000 students, half of them migrant children.The number of migrant students, or students without registered residence, has been rising by an average of 36.7 percent annually over the past three years.Officials expect the surge will continue until 2005, prompting the education bureau to adjust its policies and find ways to create more school places.The municipal government has increased spending on education at an annual rate of 20.62 percent in the past three years. A total of 73,000 school places were created in the past two years.Private schools have also flourished in recent years, helping ease shortages of school places. The city now has 144 private schools, offering education for 123,100 migrant students.All students with registered residence are given school places under the nine-year compulsory education system. Migrant children have to pay extra fees to be admitted, but only if there are vacancies.(