In Xiong'an New Area, education gets an upgrade

Li Keke made herself famous at school after she wrote a poem about Xiong'an New Area:

"In 2017, when I was 9, I was here in Xiong'an; in 2018, when I was 10, I was here in Xiong'an; in 2019, when I was 11, I was here in Xiong'an; in 2035, when I am 27, I will still be here in Xiong'an, to make my contribution to its development."

Now 12, she is a pupil at Xiongxian No 2 Primary School. Her school life has totally changed and become more colorful over the past three years.

"That's why she could write such a beautiful poem, which shows her love for her hometown and her expectations for the future," said Zhang Wenfeng, the school's principal. Zhang always reads the poem to visitors.

"I love it very much," Zhang said.

The primary school was transformed into a branch of Zhongguancun No 3 Primary School — located in Haidian district in Beijing — in March 2018, about a year after Xiong'an was established.

Located about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, the new economic zone was set up to take over Beijing's functions not essential to its role as the nation's capital. The non-capital functions include universities, medical institutes, enterprise headquarters and financial institutions.

To help improve the quality of education in Xiong'an, which was mainly made up of three counties, some schools in Beijing and Tianjin have been involved in upgrading local schools in all respects, including teaching methods, course outlines and students' after-class lives.

Zhongguancun No 3 Primary School is one of the majors. It has sent 12 teachers to teach or work at the school in Xiongxian.

"I've joined three school clubs — for poetry, sports and chorus. It's very interesting!" Li Keke said.

She said that every school day, from 9:40 am to 10:20 am, teachers take students to their playground to exercise.

"In the past, we only did one kind of exercise repeatedly day to day, but now we have many different choices, like soccer, basketball, running and street dancing," she said, adding that she likes soccer most.

"What's more, we can have a math class on the playground. That was impossible in the past. You know why? Because our teacher would let us measure distance when the book had related content."

She was excited when talking about her current school life.

All the changes Li has experienced were introduced by the team headed by Zhang, the principal. Zhang said the school has recruited more gym teachers, reduced the number of students per class, increased training for teachers and held activities with the school in Beijing.

"While Xiong'an is developing, the education in Xiong'an is changing too," Zhang said.