BEIJING - More than 90 million Chinese students received financial support from the government in 2016, up 7.6 percent year on year, according to a report Tuesday.

The report, released by the Ministry of Education, said that China spent more than 168 billion yuan (24.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, 12.85 billion yuan more than the previous year, helping students of all levels from pre-school up to university.

Students also enjoyed free tuition and fees in compulsory education, the report said, adding that another fund of 16.74 billion yuan had been allocated to provide free textbooks for 128 million students.

Tian Zuyin, director of the National Center for Student Financial Aid, said that China would improve funds for students in 2017, so that "no one will drop out of school because of family financial difficulty."