Since 2006, the Chinese government has implemented a 9-year compulsory education scheme and at the same time offered“Two remissions and one subsidy” which means remissions of miscellaneous and textbook fees, subsidy for boarding students . While this makes basic education possible for all, attending high school and higher means of education remains out of reach for the impoverished. Drop-out rate post junior secondary school reaches as high as 30% and the main attributing factor is financial difficulties.
To reflect the change in education policies, our student support focus has evolved to helping those in senior high school and university, in the form of living and learning expense assistance. At the moment, we are concentrating our effort in Yunnan, Gansu, Sichuan and Guizhou.
Sowers Action Hua Guang Girls High School
Sowers Action has been funding the expenses of the Sowers Action Hua Guang Girls High School in Nanning City since April 2006, and the school has become the one and only pure public welfare girls high school in China. Poverty-stricken girls in high school can have the opportunity to “step out of the mountains”, and use knowledge to change their own destiny, and even that of families and villages.
Over the past 20 years, Nanning’s education undertakings have become increasingly prosperous, with continuous improvement in educational conditions, and the country’s targeted poverty alleviation policies have gradually seen positive results. However, the situation at Sowers Action has been less than ideal, with fundraising severely hit by the economic recession, and donations have fallen by more than one-third. At the same time, the education policy in Nanning has changed. Since last year, the all girls’ high schools can only accept local Nanning students, and unable to take on students from other poverty-stricken counties. Since the school is a non-profit public operation which relies heavily on donations, the funding is often so tight that it is difficult to employ and maintain a stable group of teaching staff. Moreover, the government informed the school some years ago that it needs to be demolished in future for the construction of a new highway, prompting the school to relocate. However, despite several years of hard work, relocation of the high school has not been possible.
Following much deliberation and careful consideration, Sowers Action has decided to cease all donations to the high school after completion of the 2021 spring semester. The school will be taken over by another institution and re-named Hua Guang Girls High School. Students originally in years 1 and 2 will have all their school fees subsidised by the new owners and continue their education. Sowers Action’s historical mission will be completed.
Hong Kong
After-school Tutorial Scheme
The After-school Tutorial Scheme for students is based on school year (from September of a year to June of the following year) and is a continuous activity. Sower’s tutors provides 2-hour after class homework tutoring for students from grassroots families every school day (about 120 days per school year). Currently, there are two primary schools participating in the Scheme: – Sham Shui Po Kaifong Welfare Association Primary School and SKH Kei Oi Primary School, serving a total of 80 students. In addition to the daily courses under the Scheme, we conclude the services by holding a parent-child day camp before the end of each school year.
Parent-child day camp activities:
Target participants : After-school tutors, parents and students
Sharing by tutors, parents-tutors and parents of students the results of after-school tutoring and learning and sharing of teaching experience
Outstanding Student Award Ceremony-Outstanding students in each class are selected by the tutors, and award certificates are presented for encouragement
Parent-child group games- to enhance communication between parents and children via games
Note: During the epidemic, schools switch to online teaching, and tutors of the After-school Tutorial Scheme answer homework questions and manage students’ learning progress via Whatsapp on a daily basis.
Overseas
Ayemyitta Disable Centre (AMDC) in Yangon is the first validly registered centre for the disabled. It was founded by a visually impaired lady in 2003 and is currently managed by her son.
At present, AMDC cares for 98 disabled children, including those suffering from deafness, blindness and muscular as well as intellectual impairment. Of these children, 18 have to stay in AMDC premises because they either have no family or their families are unable to care for them.
Because AMDC’s premises and facilities are limited at present, it can only provide basic care and training for the children in the hope that they will be able to return to conventional schools. Unfortunately, these public schools do not have the technical expertise and support required to care for students with special needs and cannot provide a suitable learning environment for them.
AMDC therefore hopes to construct a three-storey compound which provides education and rehabilitative treatment for students with special needs.
The new compound will provide accommodation for 50 more students and increase the total number of students that can be cared for during the day to 200. This ensures that more disabled children can receive the care that they need. At the same time, the compound provides parents with training and helps them learn how to take care of their special needs child.
After understanding the difficulties and needs of AMDC, Sowers Action decided to fund the construction of its new compound. It has also dispatched a special education needs working group to AMDC to understand their learning and training needs. In this way, it is hoped that Sowers Action can provide AMDC with both the hardware and software required to achieve its objectives.
