Project gives rural schools a new virtual reach

By CnAgri Print

Ethnic Yi students gather for a meeting at Central Primary School in Haluo town in Sichuan province's Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture.

Hailai Mama, 11, sees a computer for the first time. She quickly learned how to turn it on and off, and use it to read e-books and watch films. Photos by Xu Lin /

Hailai Mama, a fifth-grade primary school student dressed in traditional Yi attire, was excited to see a computer for the first time. The 11-year-old and the other nine students in the classroom quickly learned how to turn the high-tech device on and off, and use it to read e-books and watch films. 

"I like to play flash games and watch TV series. It's a lot of fun. I also want to learn how to surf the Internet," she says, eagerly. She is one of the 425 Yi ethnic group students at Central Primary School of Dianbu town in Meigu county, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province. 

"Teaching methods are changing rapidly. It's best to combine the traditional and high-tech ones," says Ma Haizhen, academic dean of the school. 

Seagate Technology, one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives, and the China Youth Development Foundation, teamed up to build the Seagate Hope Digital Library in the school - the first of its kind in rural China. The company is building two such libraries and teaching buildings in the county. 

According to Ma, there are three primary schools in Dianbu town. About one-third of the students are left-behind children, who live with their grandparents while their parents labor in cities as migrant workers. 

Most students in the school are from poor families with more than three children, and have to walk for more than one hour to go to school on a zigzagging mountain road. The class starts at 9:30 am, but some students are late every day, especially in rainy or snowy weather. 

Ban Seng Teh, senior vice-president and managing director of Segate's Asia-Pacific and Japan operations, is impressed by how eager the children are to learn and how much they enjoy being in school. 

"It's a big contrast to urban children, many of whom don't have the good attitude to study and don't perceive education as joyful and happy," he says, adding that he plans to bring his own two children next year to experience this kind of life. 

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I was afraid at first they would not know how to use a mouse, but it turned out they all learned very fast," says Feng Minhui, deputy director of the partner-cooperation department of the youth development foundation. 

According to Feng, the foundation plans to promote more digital libraries next year, and some are already under construction. Several companies are in negotiation with the foundation to build such libraries all across China. 

The library has multiple uses, such as multimedia and computer classes, and film showings. Students can read various e-books, including comics and science books, and play educational games. The aim is to broaden their horizons and stir their interest to learn, so that they can know things urban children do. 

"The students' Chinese writing has improved, because they can know more about the world beyond the mountains. When I teach them a passage about whales, I show them pictures of whales online. It's very vivid," Ma says. 

Ma says the school is rearranging class schedules so that each class gets to use the classroom every week. As there are only 10 computers, it takes two or more weeks for a student to take a turn because the student numbers in the classes range from 27-72. 

Feng says that compared with traditional libraries, it's convenient to build digital ones because it's cheaper to transport, especially in the mountainous areas, and easy to update online. Moreover, traditional books may become worn out and quickly outdated. 

"It's difficult to choose the suitable books for rural children due to regional differences. For example, children from urban areas can go to the aquarium to see a starfish, but the only way for rural children to know about it is from books and pictures," she says. 

"Some digital resources may be e-waste in the city but food for the mind for rural children. They can know what the metropolis is like via photos and videos." 

The foundation is responsible for the software maintenance, while the facilities, such as computers, are all covered by a government warranty. 

Feng says that with Internet access, the libraries can play a greater role, since e-books and other resources can be updated online at any time. However, if there is no Internet access, they must travel to these remote places with a portable hard-disk to update. 

She says wireless network cards will be provided for some mountainous areas where it's difficult to provide an Internet network. 

"We also plan to organize children to enjoy video chats with their parents who are away working in big cities," she says. 

According to Feng, intellectual property rights pose another important issue. The cost of the authorized e-books and videos accounts for more than 40 percent of the project's expense. 

In 1989, the foundation started the public service program Project Hope to build schools in impoverished rural areas in China to enable children from poor families to continue their educations. 

She says there are more than 18,000 Hope Primary Schools in the country, and the foundation plans to build such libraries for all these schools. "It's a long-term broad project, so we definitely need support from the whole society." 

Source：Chinadaily.com.cn