Guangling is a poor rural area in the northeast of Shanxi province, China, with a per capita income was RMB 3299 or $524/person in 2010. It is a basin surrounded by Taihang Mountains,where 185,000 residents mostly working in agriculture.
Many of the children in Guangling leave school early and start work in the fields or in construction sites at a young age. OCEF is the only education-oriented NGO working in Guangling so far.
Since 2000, OCEF has launched a Financial Aid project to sponsor Grades 1-9 underprivileged children with the help of two warmhearted local volunteer coordinators, Si Xinyi, a chief Bhikkhu of a local temple, and Mr. Chunying Li, a retired teacher. Both of them have good reputation in the local community. With their help, OCEF became familiar with the situation in the local area and was able to tailor projects to meet actual demands in the past 12 years.
In 2011, OCEF supported 454 students 47 schools through Financial Aid Project, Scholarship Project, and School Facility Project.
A student’s home, who is sponsored by OCEF Financial Aid Project
OCEF believes that, rather than just book learning, education should trigger students’ independent thinking and creativity and instill social responsibility. To this end, in 2012, OCEF will provide selected schools in Guangling with comprehensive support through its Financial Aid, Scholarship, Library, Teacher Training and School Facility projects covering 600 students at least.
This comprehensive program will build an effective support network for information exchange among teachers, students, and outside sources. In particular, we will introduce an Advanced Reading Course that will show the joy of reading to participants via presentation training, teamwork research, and multi-cultural exchanges with American schools. OCEF Guangling team will consist of OCEF staff, local coordinators, training professionals and volunteers from China and North America.
During stage one of our comprehensive program, OCEF will provide financial support for tuition, school facilities improvement and libraries. In the second and third stages, OCEF will carry out teacher training and introduce the Advanced Reading Course, in addition to supporting a course on health.
In phase I, OCEF provided school facilities support, financial aid to selected schools and students.
Liu Zi Jing Primary School
Students of Liu Zi Jing Primary School
OCEF donated desks and chairs to Nan Chun Primary School through OCEF School Facilities Project
In phase II, OCEF Library Project is launched in these schools to ensure students have books to read.
Students showing books donated by OCEF through OCEF Library Project
During the third phase, Advance Reading Course and Teacher Training will be introduced to those schools that pass OCEF project assessment in Phase I and Phase II.
A reading lesson
