Primary and secondary school students without a Beijing hukou now have the same education rights as their native counterparts, after the Beijing education authority amended a two-decade student enrollment policy on Monday.

The new system has loosened enrollment restrictions on students from outside the city, regarded as a breakthrough from the former policy that allowed only four types of non-native Beijingers to study at local public schools, said Li Yi, director of the department of basic education with Beijing education commission.

The four types include students whose parents are working abroad or in sparsely inhabited rural regions, and if one of their parents has a Beijing hukou. The fourth group refers to the children of zhiqing - those born in a city but sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution.