Education authorities said Tuesday that teacher exchanges will be increased between schools in urban and rural areas to balance allocation of education resources. Personnel exchanges of teachers and principals will be carried out on a regular basis in the next three to five years, the Ministry of Education said. Teaching staff who have worked for a number of years at the same school should be rotated between urban and rural schools, between quality and low-performing schools. Motivation in terms of promotion or salary increases will incentivize staff to work at weak or rural schools. To achieve equal access to education, teacher exchange had been promoted in 22 of China's provincial-level regions by the end of August 2013.