China's Project Hope has financed the education of more than 2.5
million poor rural students since its establishment 14 years
ago.
Initiated in 1989, the project aims to finance the schooling of
students from rural families living in poverty. It consists of
programs to build Project Hope primary schools in poor rural areas,
establish Project Hope scholarships in high schools and
universities, carry out distance education initiatives and train
rural teachers.
To date, the project has received more than 2.2 billion yuan
(US$265 million) of domestic and overseas donations. These funds
have been used in the renovation and building of 9,508 Project Hope
primary schools that have accommodated a total of more than 3
million pupils, said an official of the China Youth
Development Foundation, which is responsible for the operation
of the project.
Some 80 percent of the Hope Project primary schools and students
aided by the project were in China's middle and western regions,
which were less developed, said the official.
Project Hope has also helped build distance learning centers,
libraries and video centers, trained rural school teachers and
granted scholarships to outstanding high school and university
students from rural areas, the official said.
According to an appraisal report, 93.9 percent of residents in
29 provincial capital cities aged above 16 have heard of Project
Hope, and 63.5 percent have contributed to it in various ways. The
report drew the conclusion that Project Hope has become the largest
and most influential non-government welfare project in China.
Official statistics reveal that there are still some 40 million
students from poor families that need aid nationwide, including 34
million primary and junior high school students.
Gu Xiaojin, secretary general of the China Youth Development
Foundation, said the organization would strive to raise more funds
and finance the schooling of more students in the future.
(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2003)