Welcome to Phelex Foundation Website!---Houshan Main School, xuyong County, sichuan

Houshan Main School

UPM/Phelex Bitter Bamboo Shoot Base

Facts:

Houshan School is in Xuyong County, in the mountainous south region of Sichuan, 27 km to town. Local economical development was seriously behind and among the nation's most impoverished areas. The school is a 6-year full time elementary schoo. Its 823 pupils include 342 girls and 468 boys. Besides Han pupils, there are 148 minority students including Miao, Yi, etc. minorities. The school has 400 needy pupils. In 2004, 5 children left school including 2 girls.

Tuition and fees per year	RMB 312 ($37.7)	Per capita annual income	RMB 910 ($110.0) in 2005
Number of teachers	32	Number of students	823
Location	Xuyong County,Sichuan Province

Photos:

Houshan town government offered 250 mu of land for the tuition program at no cost of 30 years. Local forestry organizations contributed technical consultation and guidance, villagers volunteered 6250 hours of labor at a cost of RMB 165.25 .


School Panorama		Classroom

Tuition Aid Program Base		Construction

Project Developments:

In January 2005, the PF initially adopted the tuition aid program and made an on-the spot investigation.
In April 2005, the PF and UPM-Kymmene Corporation of Finland co-donated RMB 137,070 for building 250 mu of bitter bamboo fields.
In May, the fund was ready, and the program officially started.
In the middle of September 2005, the transformation of the project land was completed and the school was preparing for its next step, planting. The tuition aid money of RMB 3,120 provided by the Phelex Foundation would be issued to needy students before the National Day Holiday. And the detailed distribution plan would be made with the Community Council consultation.
Local villagers and enterprises devoted labor and materials, which had a value of about RMB 150,200 during the process of the tuition aid project base transformation. Thirteen reservoirs with the capacity of 30 cubic meters, a 2600-meter diversion canal and 3000-meter alley were all built, and the 20-hectare wasteland was reclaimed.
Engineers from the County Forestry Bureau made a special training visit on Bitter Bamboo to the teachers and students during the middle of October; about 25,000 bitter bamboos were planted and at the same time the work of irrigation and fertilization were also finished by the local villagers. During this process, local villagers donated 62.5 tons of farmyard manure and voluntarily dug 25,000 earthen pits.
In January 2006, the Tuition Aid Project passed an acceptance check from the County Forestry Bureau and Agricultural Bureau smoothly. Experts from the two bureaus said “It is the highest quality bamboo project base of Xuyong County ”.
On March 1, 2006, the Project Fund RMB 1950 was ready, and tuition aid funds of RMB 3,210 were also distributed to 70 needy students during this month.