BEIJING -- China had 518,500 schools of all levels and sorts by 2022, with the total number of students reaching 293 million, the Ministry of Education said Wednesday.

According to statistics released by the ministry, the country registered 18.8 million full-time teachers at all levels last year.

The total number of kindergartens dropped by 1.9 percent to 289,200 last year, according to the ministry.

There are 201,600 compulsory education schools nationwide, with 159 million students, said the ministry, adding that the retention rate of nine-year compulsory education hit 95.5 percent in 2022.

It added that China had 15,000 regular senior high schools in 2022, the enrollment of which increased by 4.71 percent year on year to 9.48 million.