Investment in education, especially in the countryside, should be given priority when the central government allocates funds from the 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package, Gu Bingling, president of Tsinghua University, said yesterday.

"Every cent spent on education would probably yield greater benefits than every cent spent on anything else, especially over the long term," he said.

"By attaching greater importance to education, we could partly avoid myopic and rash decision-making, which could undermine our efforts to increase domestic demand and stimulate the economy."