BMW initiative boosting revitalization opportunities in rural schools

German premium carmaker BMW kicked off the 2022 Joy Home Summer Camp in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Sichuan province on Monday, marking a step forward for the company in fulfilling its corporate social responsibility efforts to support rural education and revitalization.

The Joy Home is one of BMW's four flagship CSR projects in China, which has been running for 11 years and aims to improve the development of children in China's underdeveloped areas.

This year's event came to Siyuan Experimental School in Xide county, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture and has provided a series of activities that include dynamic sports training, art and music classes, as well as starlight parties for 100 students and 23 teachers from 10 BMW Joy Home "Self-Strengthening Movement" schools in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Jochen Goller, president and CEO of BMW China, said: "'At Home in China', BMW continues to create mutual value for our customers, the local society and automotive industry. We firmly believe that good corporate citizenship encompasses the company's deep social commitment well beyond pure business results.

"For 11 consecutive years now, BMW Joy Home has followed the social agenda, fulfilling its corporate responsibility in an innovative way. In contributing to rural education and rural vitalization, this important initiative is the perfect symbol for BMW's corporate strategy 'At Home in China'," Goller said.

Franz Decker, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive, said: "CSR is an essential part of BMW's sustainability strategy. BMW CSR has always followed three major social agendas of the Chinese government and society; cultural protection, social development and environmental protection."

The success of BMW Joy Home and BMW CSR in China can be attributed to deep engagement with stakeholders and finding the right partners, Decker said.

BMW cooperated with China Education Development Foundation, Tsinghua University's Academy of Fine Arts, the National School Physical Education League and other social sectors to bring abundant activities for students at this year's Joy Home program.

Ma Sai, dean of the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University, and a volunteer team of doctoral and graduate students from the academy gave creative art lessons and inspired children to create gouache paintings with the theme of "my hometown".

Ma said: "By teaching children how to paint their beautiful homes, we hope to instill a love for their hometown in their young minds."

Singers from the Central Conservatory of Music participated in music classes and offered guidance, enabling children to express themselves with confidence on stage at the parties.

The National School Physical Education League is also playing an active role in the camp by sending along a team of experts, who arrange sports games and special sports classes so that BMW Joy Home teachers and students will be able to take part in physical education reform and benefit from the joy of sports.

Olympic champion He Kexin joined the summer camp as a caring volunteer. By sharing her aspirational story of personal struggle and growth, He has inspired children to remain confident and maintain a positive attitude towards life, along with performing physical and mental exercises.

Self-Strengthening Movement

To support educational development in rural areas and rural revitalization, BMW Joy Home launched a future-oriented project named Self-Strengthening Movement in partnership with the China Education Development Foundation in 2021.

The three-year movement is expected to support a school in each of the 52 counties which were last to achieve poverty alleviation in 2020 and invite them to the BMW Joy Home program from 2021.

Meanwhile, it plans to build them into model schools in China in terms of physical education by carrying out on-campus sports guidance and teacher training.

Siyuan Experimental School, where this year's summer camp is located, was one of the first schools to join the Self-Strengthening Movement in 2021.

Up to now, the movement has supported 33 BMW Joy Home schools in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region as scheduled.

Cooperating with the National School Physical Education League, BMW Joy Home provided a variety of themed training sessions for physical education teachers in rural schools, making it an innovative and enabling branch of BMW's CSR.

These training courses contain policy theories and diversified content for daily teaching, focusing on exploring sports models suitable for rural schools while continuing the focus on sportsmanship, and designed to develop teams of rural physical education teachers and promote rural physical education.

The Self-Strengthening Movement has organized professional training for 132 physical education teachers across 33 rural schools and will include another 19 schools in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Gansu province and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in 2023.

Since its official launch in 2011, the BMW Joy Home program has seen 112 BMW Joy Home schools established in 29 provinces and autonomous regions across China and has held more than 400 activities, benefiting more than 130,000 children.

More than 10,000 BMW associates, dealers and customers have participated in volunteer activities.

According to Decker, BMW's three other flagship CSR projects in China, BMW China Culture Journey, BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education and BMW Beautiful Homeland Initiative also focus on social agendas and make efforts to make society better.