School Brings Hope to Village

Although they are hidden away in a remote mountainous region of Northwest China, people of the Dongxiang ethnic minority have never been forgotten. The autonomous county has benefited from a great deal of help from other regions of the country, and many improvements have been made, especially in education.

In the village of Yanling, in Dongxiang Autonomous County of Northwest China's Gansu Province, there is a white, three-storey building with a green roof that catches the eye.

The building is the China Daily Hope School (CDHS), built last year with nearly 500,000 yuan (US$60,000) of donations from China Daily, the Gansu Association for the Disabled and local people.

Two years ago, in the spot where the school now stands, there used to be a cramped, run-down building in which only 100 pupils could be taught. The village's other children, for whom there was no space at the school, had to walk considerable distances to schools in neighbouring villages. Many, however, simply dropped out of the education system altogether.

With a population of 250,000 and an annual income of 600 yuan (US$73) per capita, Dongxiang Autonomous County is one of the poorest places in China. Education is a key element in the fight to eradicate poverty.

Many people in the region are too poor to send their children to school, and instead keep them at home to help on the farm or with household chores.

However, the CDHS is beginning to change things for the better. It offers free education to the county's children.Under the "one-to-one" programme, each member of China Daily's staff donates 100 yuan to cover the cost of a CDHS pupil's books and tuition fees.

The school is proving to be a great success and has attracted students from four villages. Around 85 per cent of the area's school-aged children are now receiving an education compared with 1998's figure of 47 per cent.

Moreover, there were only four girls at the old school, and there are now 55.

"We are expecting 300-plus students to enroll in the next academic year. The percentage of school-age children at school will then hit 96," Tuo Zhanxiang, the school's headmaster, said excitedly.

China Daily is not alone in its efforts to help the region.

In May this year, World Vision donated 170,000 yuan (US$20,481) in a five grade two-storey schoolhouse of about 500 square metres in the village of Dongyuan.

World Vision, founded in 1950, is an international Christian relief and development organization.

Over the last decade, it has set up projects in dozens of provinces and autonomous regions in China.

"The Dongyuan school will be finished at the end of August," said Jeff Kwong, assistant programme officer of Hong Kong-based China Office of World Vision.

World Vision also has plans to help local people build wells to save water.

"At present, parents send their kids off with a donkey to fetch water because there are no resources nearby. This often means that the children have no time for school. By building wells we will be making an indirect contribution to local education," he said.



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