Wang Qiuju, 18, is grateful for being able to begin first-year
studies at Beijing
Jiaotong University four months ago.
"Six years ago when I was forced to drop out of school because
of poverty, I never expected I would sit in a college classroom,"
Wang said at a celebration to mark the third China Children Charity
Day last week in Beijing.
"If it was not for the help from the Spring Bud Plan, I'm afraid
I would have followed what my mother experienced -- getting married
early and lacking knowledge to change her life in the
poverty-stricken village," said Wang, who is majoring in real
estate management.
Born into a poor farmer's family in Liuhegou village, hidden in
the mountains of Miyun County in northeast Beijing, Wang still
remembers the day she was told she would be able to return to
school. "It was the happiest moment I've ever had," Wang
recalled.
She was not the only lucky girl that year. Together with 30
others from 11 ethnic groups across the country, Wang entered
Hepingli Middle School in Beijing's Dongcheng District with the aid
of the Spring Bud Plan.
The girls shared similar experiences -- they used to be good
students but left school because of poverty.
The Spring Bud Plan, launched by China Children and
Teenager's Fund (CCTF) in 1989, is aimed at helping girl
dropouts in poverty-stricken areas return to school. It helped Wang
and her classmates finish their six-year junior and senior high
schooling.
During the first three years Wang and her classmates each
received an annual stipend of 600 yuan (US$72) to cover their
expenses. When it came to the senior high school period, their aid
increased to 800 yuan (US$96) each.
After six years of study, all the girls are now sitting in
college classrooms after passing the national College Entrance
Examination last summer.
According to the plan they will continue to receive 1,000 yuan
(US$120) in aid every year until they finish their four-year
study.
According to CCTF, more than 2 million children drop out of
school every year in China, and seven out of 10 are girls.
Although most rural parents realize the importance of knowledge
in changing their lives, many are reluctant to allocate their
limited budgets to girls' education. They maintain the traditional
view that men are superior to women -- an idea still widely
advocated in many impoverished regions.
The Spring Bud Plan has collected 500 million yuan (US$60.5
million) and helped 1.35 million girl dropouts return to school
since its establishment in 1989, according to CCTF.
The Spring Bud Plan has not only opened special classes for
girls, but trained and offered them practical skills to help them
find work.
Helping hands
The Spring Bud Plan is one of the projects initiated by the
CCTF, a non-profit NGO established on July 28, 1981. It's designed
to pool donations from all walks of life throughout the country to
help millions of children who are forced by poverty to drop out of
school.
In addition to donations, funds are raised from benefit
performances and charity sales.
Ma Xin, who opened a private hospital in Zhoukou, a city of
central China's Henan
Province, has donated 20 yuan (US$2.4) to the fund every month
since 1997. He has never stopped helping the children, even after
his hospital was 160,000 yuan (US$19,347) in debt in 2000.
"I think that every child has his or her right to go to school,
and the whole society should lend a hand," he was quoted by CCTF as
saying.
Hao Deyuan, 90, a professor with the Capital Normal
University, donated his savings of 100,000 yuan (US$12,092) to
CCTF.
"Children who drop out of school need our help," he said smiling
while a schoolgirl aided by the plan kissed him at the celebration
of the third China Children Charity Day.
Since the first China Children Charity Day on June 22, 2002,
CCTF has collected more than 200 million yuan (US$24.2 million),
according to CCTF.
On the third charity day last week, the fund got donations from
a number of enterprises and organizations totaling about 7.2
million yuan (US$870,600). Meanwhile, China Cast, an IT company in
Shanghai, donated teaching facilities worth 100 million yuan
(US$12.1 million).
In addition to the Spring Bud Plan, CCTF, together with the
State Administration of Work Safety, launched the China Children
Ankang Project in May 2000, which focuses mainly on children's
safety and health.
The Ankang Project was designed to help children keep away from
disease, crime and dropping out from school.
To date, 8 million yuan (US$967,300) has been distributed to
several poverty-stricken areas, in a bid to build 800 classrooms
for children in need.
The classrooms, which are designed to provide a healthy
environment for children, comprise medical boxes, bookshelves,
computers and sports facilities.
"We hope not only CCTF but the whole society will pay great
attention to the education of children, especially those in poor
areas because they need help," said Chen Muhua, director of
CCTF.
(China Daily December 24, 2003)