Educational services undergo major overhaul

Schools upgraded across the Weifang Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in recent years, providing outstanding facilities, faculty

The Weifang Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has made significant achievements in upgrading its basic education services over the past few years.

Outstanding school facilities, excellent teams of teachers and many famous school principals have strongly boosted the zone's basic education quality enhancement campaign over the past few years, according to local authorities.

Weifang Hansen International School launched swimming and skating courses in the autumn semester this year. The school management said they have received positive feedback from students over the past month.

"It is the first time Hansen has included swimming and skating as compulsory courses," said Shi Yugang, vice-principal of Hansen. "We also built more than 30 functional rooms for the students' various interests."

Hansen, a high-end education institution in the zone, is making a name for itself thanks to its good facilities and infrastructure. The school has five blocks: two teaching buildings, a student apartment, a sports center and a catering center.

Hansen is not the only school in the zone with high standards.

"Our demands were fully respected and presented in the new school's design and construction processes," said Li Hongwei, principal of Fenghuang School. "The design and layout of our new school is completely different from the old ones.

"The new school has more human-care elements, which will better serve future education demands," Li added.

In addition to upgrading its school facilities, the zone has also supported upgrades in its pre-school education system.

A pre-school education upgrade plan was released in June this year to enhance kindergarten service quality. The zone plans to invest 3 billion yuan ($451.2 million) over the next few years to build 26 schools and kindergartens.

The local government said it is aware that an energetic faculty is the foundation for supporting the enhancement of its fundamental education services.

The zone has made great efforts in training teachers and talent recruitment. More than 100 job positions have been offered on an annual basis over the past few years.

An education system led by provincial-level renowned teachers, supported by city-level excellent teachers and mainly comprising zone-level outstanding teachers has been developed in the zone, according to local officials.

The zone's government is also sparing no efforts in retaining excellent teachers.

An awards ceremony was held in the zone on Sept 8, two days before Teachers' Day, to celebrate outstanding teachers' achievements. The zone provided more than 7 million yuan in bonuses to the winners.

In 2018, the zone will provide nearly 10 million yuan in awards to teachers. Those who qualify as famous school and kindergarten principals will share 2 million yuan next year.

The zone has released a series of incentive plans to encourage principals and teachers to identify new ways to provide quality education services. Three principals in the zone have been awarded the title of Qilu Famous Principal.

The zone has 39 provincial-level excellent teachers and 400 city-level or above outstanding teachers.

New concepts

The local authorities said they have long been committed to promoting technological development and implementing new concepts to support education service enhancement.

The Weifang Hi-tech Experimental School has partnered with East China Normal University to introduce new teaching methods. Students in the school achieved outstanding academic results this year, according to Wu Kebo, principal of the school.

The local education authorities have streamlined administration processes and improved services based on schools' and kindergartens' real needs.

Third parties have been introduced to provide services such as legal advice, safety, school vehicle operation and supervision.

Shanghai-based Epoch Education Group was invited to manage the daily management of Xinchang School, one of the publicly owned schools in the zone.

Weifang Hi-tech Bilingual Education Group was established to promote the expansion of premium education brands. Three privately owned kindergartens obtained support from the government to increase the supply of preschool education services in the zone.

Zhuang Jian contributed to this story.

(China Daily 10/10/2017 page12)