Bringing the best brains to rural schools

By:China Daily
update:November 16,2017

Zhang Yue, one of He's former students, followed in her old teacher's footsteps and studied in Beijing, attending Beihang University. She said He had helped to broaden her horizons and was a lasting influence on her life.

"When I was young, the village seemed to be the entire world to me. It was Mr. He who made me realize that our village is so small and that I could go out and see the world if I worked hard," she said.

According to Teach for China, about 1,000 fresh graduates from China's top universities joined its program in the period between 2008 and 2016. In 2006, about 470 classes involved with the program nationwide saw average marks rise, and more than 420 registered a surge in the number of students who regularly scored more than 80 percent in exams.

Urban-rural divide

Since the reform and opening-up policy started in the late 1970s, China's economy has grown to become the second-largest in the world. However, the downside is that the country's rapid rate of urbanization has widened the urban-rural divide, and the gulf in the education sector is one of the most worrying problems, according to experts.

Nov.16,2017--He Liu (center) during a teaching seminar with colleagues at Dazhai Middle School. (Photo/China Daily)

Wang Liwei, a researcher at the 21st Century Education Research Institute, a nonprofit organization in Beijing that focuses on education policy research and advocacy, said the quality of rural education is significant because a high proportion of the population still lives in the countryside.

"Poor education in isolated areas compromises the quality of the rural workforce, and that could hamper the country's development. People whose low educational status makes them unemployable also pose a threat to social stability," she said.

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