Greater funding results in makeover

Unprecedented investment in schools and teachers has helped Zhenxiong county, Yunnan province, make a major change in the past decade, becoming famous for its education system, said Zhu Qicai, head of the county's bureau of education and sports.

Schools at all levels have had complete makeovers, with dilapidated buildings and facilities replaced by new ones, he said, adding that the schools are also equipped with sports facilities, multimedia rooms, libraries, science rooms and music and art rooms.

"Schools have become the most beautiful places and must-see scenery in the county," he said.

The county has made sure that there are no dropouts in the nine-year compulsory education system and achieved a dynamic zero dropout rate.

It provides financial assistance to students from poorer families and offers free lunches to rural students, Zhu said.

Last year, enrollment at kindergartens reached 85 percent, with the rates at primary and high schools reaching 99.9 percent and 90 percent, respectively, he added.

In 2016, the county and Yunnan Normal University established the Yunnan Normal University Affiliated High School in Zhenxiong and offered major support in terms of policy, funding, teachers and student entry policies.

The county also has given the administrators full autonomy in running the facility and hiring teachers.

In 2019, the school achieved outstanding performances in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, with 100 percent of its first batch of graduates enrolling at universities, while three students were admitted to the prestigious Tsinghua and Peking universities in Beijing, Zhu said.

Later, the county opened more secondary schools in collaboration with other universities and established a cooperation mechanism with more advanced facilities from preschools to high schools, he said.

In the past three years, 6,015 graduates in the county have enrolled at key universities and 25 have been admitted to Tsinghua or Peking universities, Zhu said.

He said he is deeply touched and proud of the success of Mangbu Secondary School, which has sent 4,659 graduates to universities in the past decade.

Zhenxiong is Yunnan's most populous county with 1.71 million residents, of which 346,000 are school students, he said. Zhu added that developing education is the most direct and effective way to tap into the county's human resources.

As a township secondary school, Mangbu does not have the best students in the county, but its performance in the national college entrance exam has been extraordinary, Zhu said.

By being admitted to universities, the students can change their own destiny, their family's future and even that of their hometown, he noted.

Last year, 6,574 of the county's high school graduates were admitted to universities, accounting for 43.3 percent of the total, Zhu said.

"They are the future of education development in the county, and the future of its social and economic development," he added.