Water protection wins hearts and minds

Education and aid

As a thank-you for the efforts made by Anyuan and nearby counties, a group of social organizations in Hong Kong have helped local authorities develop basic education in the area. Education is of paramount importance in driving development, especially in the county's underdeveloped areas.

The Siyuan Experimental School is one result of the collaboration. The Yanai Foundation－a charity founded by Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Michael Ying Lee-yuen in 2006 to support educational and medical projects on the mainland－has helped build hundreds of schools across the country.

It proposed building a public school that offers primary and secondary education in Anyuan, and donated 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) as initial funding.

Local authorities provided 70 million yuan to get the school operational in 2015.

In six years, the number of pupils has risen from 2,100 to 4,057, and the quality of teaching has topped other schools in the county for five straight years, according to Lu Hongsheng, the principal.

The school's design and facilities are not vastly different from those of city schools. It's not particularly spacious, but it has a soccer pitch, several basketball courts and dormitories for students and teachers, and the dining hall can accommodate 900 students.

Its teaching blocks have red and white ceramic tiles, with slogans written in both English and Chinese on the walls. Even the signboard at the gates is bilingual.

Lu said the school has grown rapidly as a result of the strong demand for education. To cope with the rising number of students, there are plans to build 20 more classrooms and a new teaching block by September.

Hong Kong's support plays a vital role in the school's development, the principal said, adding that "without the initial funding from Hong Kong, it could not have been built".

The foundation paid the bill for the campus designer and sponsored about 100 teachers to study and undertake exchange programs with schools in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Beijing and Shenzhen, Guangdong province. They laid the foundations for future operations.

The founding of the school reflected a growing emphasis on education in Anyuan. To drive long-term development, local authorities are focusing on improving the quality of education, especially by installing better teaching facilities.

The county authorities also invested top-level resources and facilities in building the campus, even giving it a higher priority than the construction of government offices, according to Lu.

In 2018, local resident Sun Jinling sent his daughter to the school because the study environment is better than the one at the primary school the girl attended the previous year.

He said the young school has caught up with other better established first-class local schools in a short time. He also rated the campus design and facilities as being better than many other establishments in Anyuan.