China adopts Hope for School Project
China has adopted a national campaign for private institutions, individuals and companies to help in the construction of school facilities in rural areas.
The initiative, dubbed ‘Hope for School Project’, is aimed at providing decent school infrastructure for deprived areas in the country.
A former Vice-President of the China International Publishing Group (CIPG), Mr Huang Yaouyi, said this when he presented a paper on ‘China: A Country of Great Diversity,’ at the just-ended 2017 Seminar for Renowned Editors from African Countries in Beijing, China.
The two-week programme, attended by 27 journalists from seven African countries: Ghana, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Egypt, was sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and organised by the CIPG.
It aimed, among others, at enhancing friendship and cooperation between China and other developing countries to promote human resource, economic conditions and development.
Accessing education
According to Huang, everybody, including companies, was encouraged by the government to help build a school to give hope to rural children desirous of accessing education.
He noted that the government focused on the provision of other needs of the citizenry, others too needed to support “to give young people some hope in life.”
“The Chinese government is spending more than four per cent of its Gross Domestic Product on education so that there is enough money spent but most of it (money) tended to be spent in urban developed areas. In rural areas because of local conditions, fewer students, poor transportation facilities, education needs money in those places, and so that is why there is a national campaign for all institutions and individuals to help pupils, students and youngsters in poor areas through the hope project,” he said.
Asked whether there were some incentives for those supporting the project, Mr Huang said: “It has nothing to do with the tax system, and that they are being recognised in name. You know your company is doing something good in a poor area.”
Speedy development
The initiative, he said, had been working pretty well in China as poor areas underwent speedy developments through the improvement and provision of educational facilities.
Although he could not provide figures spent on the facilities, he said, the project, which had been in operation for about 15 years, had been a success.
During the event, the journalists were taken through study tours of the Great Wall, the Anhui Province, Chizhou City, Mountain Jiuhua Scenic Area, the Dayuan Buddhist Cultural Park and the Xinghuacun Cultural Tourism Zone.