Graduates attend the commencement ceremony of Tsinghua University held in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

The number of schools in China declined last year, but even with fewer campuses, the number of teachers and students grew, according to a newly released report by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

According to the annual report on education development in China, last year, there were a total of 518,500 schools with 293 million students and 18.8 million full-time teachers across the country.

In 2021, 529,300 schools were operating, with 291 million students and 18.44 million full-time teachers.

The number of children at kindergartens also fell last year, to 46.28 million — 1.78 million fewer than in 2021, a 3.7 percent decline.

Meanwhile, universities saw a bump in the number of students. Enrollment was 46.55 million last year, an increase of 2.25 million compared to 2021.