BEIJING - Secondary vocational schools have played an active role in poverty alleviation, according to an evaluation report on vocational education released by China's Ministry of Education.

There are 347 secondary vocational schools in areas of extreme poverty, with nearly 600,000 students enrolled. And around 142,000 vocational graduates from these schools found jobs in 2017, with the employment rate exceeding 90 percent, said the report.

More than 2.5 million students at secondary vocational schools across China received scholarships and grants in 2017, half of whom were from the country's western areas, it said.