Renewing rural village life
by Katrina Kalleske
Impoverished students at a rural Chinese school are now learning in a greatly improved environment, thanks to a generous group of UniSA alumni.
In 2007, the MBA Club-Hong Kong Alumni, comprising 210 Master of Business Administration graduates who now live in Hong Kong, started a project to support a primary school in the rural mountain area of Chengdu City.
To date the club has raised HK$145,000, allowing it to provide for the refurbishment of rotting and freezing classrooms at Long-wang Village School, one of four village schools in Jin-tang County. Electricity has been repaired and worn out doors, windows, desks, chairs and blackboards have been replaced.
Since
the renovations have been completed, the school has reported
improved performance, rising to second position in the end-of-term
test for all primary schools in the county.
The club members are not content to stop there, however; they are determined to continue their fundraising efforts to make a real difference to the children.
Already enough money has been raised to develop a new well to supply enough water for the school’s needs. It should be operating by early May.
Hong Kong MBA Club President Edward Lam has visited the school seven times in the past two years and has seen a vast improvement.
"It has been great to see the re-creation of the whole school building including the playground," he said. "We are now finishing work on a new well that will include an electronic pump for the water. Previously someone had to make an hour-long trip to a well, several times a day.
"We will continue to support the project and would like to set up scholarships for the students and also for the teachers.
"We would like to be able to send the teachers to China or somewhere else outside of their rural area, and give them a chance to learn new teaching methods.
"We are also looking at setting up a small library at the school. We want it to be the best rural school in the area."
The school houses 150 primary school students from very poor
families. It is one of four governed by Bai-guo Town Primary School,
Jin-tang County.
The School administrators are greatly appreciative of the MBA Club’s support.
In a letter of appreciation they wrote: "For the past years, it has been our wish to improve the physical conditions and uplift the education quality of these schools. However, we could not achieve that due to local economic constraints, and there was not much that we or the schools could do; all teachers and pupils could only accept the reality without much complaining. Your continuous assistance allows us to fulfil the wishes of many years."