BEIJING -- China plans to recruit 84,330 college graduates as teachers in rural primary and middle schools in 2021 as part of efforts to promote rural vitalization, the Ministry of Education said Wednesday.

The recruitment is mainly for the once-impoverished areas and those inhabited by ethnic minorities to consolidate the results of poverty reduction, according to a notice issued by the ministries of education and finance on carrying out rural special-post teacher recruitment program this year.

The program is expected to enhance the teaching capacity of some weak subjects in rural schools such as arts, foreign languages and information technology, said the notice. It also called for efforts to ensure salaries and social security of the teachers.

China launched the special-post teacher recruitment program in 2006, aiming to add college graduates to the insufficient teaching resources of compulsory education in rural areas.