BEIJING -- The urban-rural gap regarding the quality of faculty at primary and junior middle schools narrowed in 2017, compared with the previous year, according to the latest report on China's rural area education.

Compiled by the Northeast Normal University's research institute of rural education, the annual report was based on data collected from 19 provincial-level regions across China and statistics from national authorities.

Around 93.8 percent of the primary school teachers in China's rural areas held a diploma of a two or three-year junior college course or a higher level in 2017, 4.6 percentage points lower than in urban areas -- a gap that narrowed by 2 percentage points compared with 2016, figures showed.

Meanwhile, 81.1 percent of the rural junior middle school teachers held a Bachelor's degree or higher, 10.3 percentage points lower than their urban peers -- a gap that narrowed by 2.5 percentage points year on year.

Chinese authorities have increased their support for education in rural areas, including introducing policy initiatives to improve the wellbeing of teachers there, the report noted.

However, it added that much more needs to be done to improve the quality of education in rural areas.