Rural schools provide a home away from home
Students are benefiting from a project to improve facilities in less-developed parts of the country. Ren Yaoting and Huang Yan report for Xinhua from Nanning.
The project, called Farming Education into Schooling, stems from the implementation of the beautiful school campaign in Sanjiang.
In 2006, a program called Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools, aka WASH, was jointly implemented by the Ministry of Education and UNICEF to provide safe drinking water, improve sanitation facilities and promote hygienic behavior at schools in the less-developed central and western regions.
In 2013, the WASH-led Whole School Environment Improvement Project included health, nutrition, environment and climate education, and disaster management.
From 2013 to 2016, Sanjiang invested more than 11.8 million yuan in the construction and renovation of hygienic toilets in 108 schools. The latest statistics show that by September last year, 94 percent of schools in Sanjiang had sanitary latrines, compared with 18 percent in 2013.
This "toilet revolution" was a success, and Sanjiang decided to go further.
The Whole School Environment Improvement Project was expanded to embrace school construction and ecological awareness in an effort to build beautiful schools, according to Long Huaiyi, head of the county's education bureau.
Yu Bin, head teacher of class one, grade six, at Heping Primary School, said: "Many students are left with their grandparents. Some only have their mothers at home because their fathers have left for better-paying jobs in big cities. They do not have enough care and guidance from both parents."
The 27-year-old teaches during the day and takes care of the children at night. She also leads them in cleaning the toilets and dorms, and works as an art teacher. "It makes me a little busy," she said.
Each dorm is equipped with 10 beds, two toilets and a regular supply of hot water.
"The Build a Beautiful School campaign gives children a second home," Yu said.
He Weihua, a sixth grader, only has his mother at home, about an hour's drive from the school. His father is a migrant worker.
When he began living at the school, He missed his mother, but now he has adjusted to his new life.
"The toilets are clean. My teachers are nice. I can play ball with my classmates on the playground. Everything I need is in the school," he said.
