Touching hearts and minds

In six years, the number of pupils has gone up from 2,100 to 4,057, and the quality of its teaching has topped other schools in the county for five straight years, principal Lu Hongsheng said.

The school's design and facilities are not vastly different from city schools. It's not particularly spacious, but has a soccer pitch, several basketball courts, dormitories for students and teachers, and a dining hall that can accommodate 900 students. Its teaching blocks have red and white ceramic tiles, with marks and slogans written in both English and Chinese on the walls. Even the signboard at the gate of the school is bilingual.

Lu said the school has grown rapidly, given the strong demand for education. To cope with a rising number of students, the school plans to build 20 more classrooms and a new teaching block by September.

Hong Kong's support plays a vital role in the school's development, the principal said, adding that "without the initial funding from Hong Kong, it could not have been built." The Yanai Foundation footed the bill for designing the campus, and sponsored about 100 teachers to study and do exchange programs with schools in Chengdu, Sichuan province; Beijing and Shenzhen. These laid the foundation for its future operations.

The founding of the school reflects a growing emphasis on education in the small county. To drive long-term development, local authorities are focusing on improving the quality of education, especially by installing better teaching facilities. Local resident Sun Jinling sent his daughter to the school for a better studying environment than the primary school the girl was at the previous year, saying that the young school has caught up with other more established first-class local schools in a short time. He also rated the campus design and facilities as being ahead of many other schools in the county.