Pioneering education in Hainan: A success story

If the future belongs to the young, society might want to discover how the young understand the world.

In Hainan province, an 11-year-old schoolboy and his classmates were given an opportunity to explain.

Their vision was a rich one that goes beyond indoctrination: For them, the future is filled with wonders, not only in scientific understanding but also in human dimensions, including the arts.

For them, the world of the future is replete with knowledge, from the hard sciences, including an understanding of the human body, to artificial intelligence and robotics; from designing traditional Chinese garments to an appreciation of music－the interests and concerns of schoolchildren soar beyond expectations.

In essays responding to a classroom reading titled Putting the Earth in Your Pocket, which was designed to elicit broad thinking, one student, Wang Yujun, a fifth-grader at the iSchool in Chengmai, Hainan, wrote:

"I agree with the author that globalization brings many benefits to countries through the free flow of people and goods. A country cannot grow well alone."

He continued to lay out his view of the world: "Classroom readings have helped me learn that better global governance is needed to avoid or control problems such as the spread of infectious diseases－COVID-19, for instance."

Qin Jianyun, president of iSchool, a cooperative project of an IT park and Beijing National Day School, said, "iSchool, which was built with a 2 billion yuan ($290 million) investment from the IT park, pays much attention to fundamental education－sports, technology and the arts－for children because these things play decisive roles in developing talent for the future."

Qin, who is also vice-president of the Beijing school, known across the country for its efforts in developing students with ambition, integrity, creativity and discipline, continued:

"Based on Chinese culture, we ensure that all our students develop an international vision, which is much needed for promoting the development of the country."

Zhang Kaicheng, a seventh-grader who moved from Haikou, the island province's capital, in September, 2019, when iSchool opened at the Hainan Software Resort Community in Chengmai, put it this way:

"School life here is so inspiring and different from the one I used to attend. We make friends with our teachers, who have similar interests. We enjoy the classes on artificial intelligence, romantic traditional Chinese garments, animation, English drama and challenging outdoor sports like climbing, golf and fencing."

The community, a key industrial park in Hainan, is home to 5,620 firms engaging in innovative information technologies－such as cutting-edge block chain technology.

"With 108 current students, iSchool has pooled 104 teachers, more than half with master's degrees. iSchool is training them to become highly qualified, with broad knowledge and capabilities to meet tide of new students. There will be around 2,400 when all the posts are filled," Qin said.

He said the annual income of an iSchool teacher is around 700,000 yuan, a figure that's the envy of their peers. It is likely to hit 1 million yuan sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Cao Xiankun, director of the Education Department of Hainan Province, said: "Hainan is using iSchool as a pilot to explore innovations in education, cultivate talent and develop a vivid model for basic education for the country."

Hainan, the country's youngest province, which was established in 1988, has been striving in recent years to strengthen basic education for the welfare of residents. In 2015, it launched a program to search for outstanding school heads and experienced teachers across the country to help boost its educational ecology.

The project, the largest ever initiated by the provincial government, has attracted 3,220 applicants from places such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shandong province. To date, the province has hired 300 school heads and excellent teachers from the Chinese mainland, many of them winners of national honors.

About 75 percent of the outsourced school principals and backbone teachers are now providing timely and much-needed assistance to schools in rural areas, which cover 80 percent of the island. Rural areas are home to 60 percent of Hainan's population, which totals 9.4 million, according to the provincial education authorities.

Cao said the principals and teachers have brought with them advanced concepts and management experience that are helping create a new model in the basic education arena, with teachers' capabilities upgraded and students making better progress in their general performance.

Bao Rui, 42, president of the Lingwan Middle School in the Qiongzhong Li and Miao autonomous county in central Hainan, was among the first group of school chiefs hired to improve the poorly developed areas of Hainan.

The first thing Bao did was to rebuild the teaching staff through performance management. He also designed the campus personally and managed to let nearly every corner to bear both traditional and modern education culture to inspire students as soon as they step onto the campus every school day.

"It worked wonders, as most teachers began to teach with renewed enthusiasm and professionalism, winning bonuses and even provincial and national recognition. Those who fail to perform are paid less," Bao said.

In four years, Bao has turned the once dilapidated school into a beautiful one. Students who had quit because of the school's poor condition and notoriously bad teaching, were now returning in large numbers.

"A principal is the soul of a school," Bao said. "Education is not just about imparting knowledge; it is more important for teachers to guide students grow up to conduct themselves well in society."

One mother, Lin Xiaozhen, said, "The changes at the school and the progress my son and daughter were making every day put us very much at ease. We have become more confident that they will have a well-off life and will be useful to the country."

Haikou Middle School affiliated with Beijing Normal University, has a beautiful modern campus. It was founded by the government of Haikou and Beijing Normal University in 2016 and has developed a "problem orientation" teaching model that stresses thorough illustration and explanation of difficult key points of knowledge. The practice is being promoted among schools on the island with welcome results, according to local reports.

"We have come to Hainan to cultivate children who will be able to play leading roles in the future. The development of Hainan depends much on Hainan people. So it is equally important to build up local talent in Hainan and absorb foreign talent," said Wang Hong, who was chosen to head the Haikou school in 2017.

Feng You, a 16-year-old high school student said: "President Wang has made us love math. We have a growing fascination with it. I never imagined that math could be so interesting."

She shared her excitement in her diary after attending a class given by the president, formerly a member of the management of the Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University and a senior educator with about 30 years of teaching experience.

"We teachers should be ready to squat down or even cradle those children who come from poor circumstances in arms so that they can receive an education with an easy and happy mood. No student should be ignored or left out," said Wang, the school head.

Wang Haifeng, a senior teacher who quit a key high school in northeastern China to join the Haikou school three years ago, said: "Hainan is a promising land that is thirsty for talent. We feel needed and respected here, and we are working hard to help foster competent students."

The Harrow school in Haikou also intends to help build up educational soft power to enhance the competitiveness of Hainan.

Harrow Haikou, the fourth Harrow school in Asia, is scheduled to start operation in September. It will offer a bilingual, bicultural curriculum, drawing on what's best from Harrow London's and Harrow International School's pedagogy to deliver China's Grade 1 to 9 Compulsory Education. English is used for mathematics, science, computing, creative arts, innovation and physical education, said Michael Farley, Harrow International's director of group operations.

"With access to an unrivaled outdoor environment, we will ensure that Harrow Hainan develops sports such as golf and sailing. It will host camps and competitive events and adventurous activities that are core to Harrow's holistic education.

"Harrow Haikou, which covers 96,673 square meters and provides 1,700 teaching posts from kindergarten to high school, will also take advantage of Hainan's natural environment to establish field training centers in disciplines such as physical geography, botany and ecology," Farley said.

In 2019, Hainan reached 91 collaboration agreements with both domestic and overseas institutions, with total investment of about 20 billion yuan. Among the international partners are such well-known institutions as Dulwich College, Wycombe Abbey School and Wesleyan College, in addition to Harrow London, according to the provincial educational authorities.

On June 1, the central government released a master plan for Hainan, aiming to build the whole of Hainan Island into a globally influential, high-level free trade port with Chinese characteristics by the middle of the century.

"Open, bold and unique to Hainan, the new master plan will create great opportunities for farsighted international education investors," said Wang Lin, dean of the International Tourism College, a joint venture launched in Haikou by Hainan University and Arizona State University in the United States three years ago.

She said the talent, training platforms and joint ventures established under the master plan will bring strong support to the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, which covers 35,400 square kilometers, 49 times the size of Singapore.

Officials with the provincial government said a serious shortage of talent is still a major bottleneck in the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port.

Experts said that opening Hainan's education sector to the world will provide new opportunities and platforms for Hainan to explore new approaches and models that blend advanced education practices with local conditions to substantially support a skilled work force to meet the vast needs of Hainan Free Trade Port for various talents.