Yuanling Farming Tuition Assistance Documentary

Yuanling County is located among Wuling Mountain , Snow-peak Mountain and 5-stream area in the west of Hunan , a mountainous poor county. We started the research and practice of farming tuition aid at 6 center elementary schools, 10 combined elementary schools and 97 village elementary schools since 1989. We developed three experimental economic zones according to topography and school distribution:

• The fruit experimental economic zone based on the banks of Yuan Waters and small basins including schools in Mayifu, Liulincha, Liangshuijin and etc.

• The tea experimental economic zone based on hills and slopes including schools in Guanzhuang, Beirong, Qiping and etc.

• The herb experimental economic zone based on mountains including schools in Huochang, Qijiaping, jundaping and etc.

The annual economic proceeds from all elementary schools and middle schools exceeded one million, and also produced good social benefits. Teachers and students applied their research achievements and knowledge from farming tuition aid practices to solving problems in local agricultural production.

The typical example is Huangrangping Center Elementary School . Related school staff started to develop small-diversified school economy such as planting, breeding, processing and etc. in 1988. The school opened up 20 mu of orchard to grow Golden Autumn pears, Brown plums and etc., repaired and changed empty old houses into small pig breeding farm. They fed pigs with pupils' leftovers. The pig farm produced 20 pigs a year. They applied pig dung to making methane instead of school lighting electricity and kitchen gas. Based on the above situation the school set up small alcohol factory and small tea factory. The annual earning of over ?45000 Yuan was a big amount of subsidy for such a rural school that has 416 pupils, 29 teachers and the government appropriation could not afford teachers' salary. Every year the school spent ?13688 Yuan in funding 13 extremely needy pupils and 50 needy pupils. Now the school entrance rate of school-age children was 99.14%, 100% for school-age girls. The school killed one pig a month and offered a meat meal every two weeks for free of charge to improve boarders' nutrition situation. In addition, the school purchased teaching equipment, improved teachers' welfare, strengthened teacher force and increased scholarship to reward excellent pupils.

The typical example is Huangrangping Center Elementary School . Related school staff started to develop small-diversified school economy such as planting, breeding, processing and etc. in 1988. The school opened up 20 mu of orchard to grow Golden Autumn pears, Brown plums and etc., repaired and changed empty old houses into small pig breeding farm. They fed pigs with pupils' leftovers. The pig farm produced 20 pigs a year. They applied pig dung to making methane instead of school lighting electricity and kitchen gas. Based on the above situation the school set up small alcohol factory and small tea factory. The annual earning of over ?45000 Yuan was a big amount of subsidy for such a rural school that has 416 pupils, 29 teachers and the government appropriation could not afford teachers' salary. Every year the school spent ?13688 Yuan in funding 13 extremely needy pupils and 50 needy pupils. Now the school entrance rate of school-age children was 99.14%, 100% for school-age girls. The school killed one pig a month and offered a meat meal every two weeks for free of charge to improve boarders' nutrition situation. In addition, the school purchased teaching equipment, improved teachers' welfare, strengthened teacher force and increased scholarship to reward excellent pupils.

Notes: Elementary education is the basis and start-point of national education and the foundation engineering to improve all nationalities' quality, train qualified talents and develop science and technology. Therefore, all the countries in the world define elementary education as compulsory and bear the majority of the costs for elementary education. In China elementary education expenses have become the most important part in national and local financial expenditure. The education expenses of schools at different levels and varieties mainly come from the education fund of national finance (mainly committed by the government directly or indirectly, among them budget fund is the main part), social societies and individual citizens, social donations and raising, tuition sees and other education funds.

China carries out the system with running and managing a school by different levels in elementary education. The evident gap among different local economic development and different financial power results in imbalance of education input. In needy area, rural school education funds are mainly from teachers' salary that appropriated by national and local finance and children's tuition fees. A large number of schools are operated in debts because all levels of finance defaulted on teachers' salary, and school children are unable to afford 2-digital or 3-digital tuition fees. Some schools have to deduct a slight part from teachers' salary that is often meager and defaulted for funding those children of dropping out of school to ensure the entrance rate and consolidation rate. The financial situation of some school is seriously worsening and on the brink of bankruptcy.

Some rural schools in Yuanling County , Hunan made great efforts to search how to get rid of the anxious financial crisis of rural education and find a new way of smooth development. They developed the farming tuition aid way of small diversified school economy that integrated planting, breeding and processing by setting up small tea garden, small herb garden, small sapling nursery, small orchard, small fish pond and small pig farm.

We expect more rural schools search for suitable farming tuition aid programs positively to improve the financial situation of rural schools thoroughly.