Our Work - Early Childhood Care and Education
Early Childhood Education in Dongma
Context
Same as in Hong Kong, China provides a 9-year national compulsory education. However, the fact that the central government focuses its resources in urban education significantly higher than that of rural education has made primary education and further studies for children living in rural areas impossible. The ratio of urban primary school enrolment rate versus that of rural enrolment rate was four to three in 2002, meaning that 1.1 million children in rural areas were unable to attend primary school.
In 2004, the government withdrew public education resources distributed to remote areas. As a result, primary schools in rural villages were shut down, as experienced in Dongma Village of Danba County, Sichuan. Situated at 3,000 meters above sea level, the only schooling option for the children in Dongma was located 25 kilometers away from their village. Despite subsidized accommodation was available, parents found it difficult and dangerous to send their young children so far away. What’s more is that parents were occupied with farming and housework, and were unable to attend to the educational needs of these children. This left them no option but to force the children to be deprived of pre-school education despite they were aware of the importance of early education.
Program
In 2008, Aide et Action began the Dongma Village Pre-school Education and Community Cultural Center Project, involving holding pre-school classes for children aged 4 to 6 and training outside volunteers to be teachers. A local teacher was also trained to organize community activities. Building upon the pre-school classes and cultural activities, a storybook was composed by villagers to introduce Dongma’s geography, history, resources and customs. The 2010 pre-school has started on 15 March, with 16 students and 3 auditing students.
Summer Trip in Dongma
AEA organized a volunteers’ trip to Dongma from 18 to 28 July 2009. Participants, some of whom were from Hong Kong, helped repair school amenities, visited villagers and shared their culture with the locals.