Funds raised through lottery will be used to establish 2,000 youth centers in rural areas this year, according to a Saturday statement issued by multiple government departments.

A statement from the Civilization Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education said the centers will go into operation by the end of September.

From 2011 to 2015, the central government has planned to set up a 2.45-billion-yuan (397 million U.S. dollars) lottery fund to establish 8,000 youth centers in order to provide rural children with opportunities to engage in physical and educational activity outside of school, the statement said, adding that 3,400 centers have already been established.

Relevant departments will supervise equipment purchases, teacher training and subsidy use in order to improve the centers, the statement said.