Li Xing

New schools rising from quake ruins

By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-30 07:49

Four months after the devastating earthquake destroyed a large area of Sichuan province, my colleagues at China Daily and I made a commitment to support at least one rural student apiece.

All the children were then studying at Bazi Central Primary School in Pingwu, a mountainous rural county in the northwestern corner of Sichuan. For two years, we each sent 500 yuan to the school at the beginning of each semester. Most of us received phone calls from the students' parents, thanking us for our help.

But none of us had a chance to meet the students; only one or two received photos.

Last Saturday, we set off for Pingwu, determined to meet our boys and girls and find out how they were doing. The provincial government had just announced the successful completion of reconstruction in the quake-hit area.

As we zigzagged through the Minshan mountains, we saw a lot of new buildings, many with white-washed walls decorated with gray, red or dark brown patterns. It was easy to spot the schools, on which more attention had been lavished. "Building sturdy schools has been a top priority of all local administrations," Chen Youping, deputy director of the Pingwu county forestry administration, told me.

There are still obvious signs of the May 12, 2008 earthquake, which claimed more than 80,000 lives, including those of 5,335 students. There are barren patches in the otherwise lush green mountains, where heaps of stone and mud are still piled. The torrential rain that followed the earthquake caused severe landslides.

The Bazi primary school is tucked away at the end of a bustling street lined with shops, restaurants and stalls. Once inside the compound, we heard children's voices coming from the three-story main classroom building. Zhang Chuanguo, headmaster of this rural school with some 300 students and 19 teachers, greeted us at the gate, shaking our hands and thanking us profusely.

He soon gathered the students we had sponsored. Although shy, the boys and girls smiled readily as their photos were taken, showing no sign of the extreme difficulties they'd endured.

Zhang told us the old two-story school building collapsed during the earthquake. Thanks to the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, CITIC, and China Merchants' Bank, the school was rebuilt. In addition to the classroom building, two new dormitory buildings for students and teachers were also built.

From Zhang, we learned the school provides room and board for young students, saving them a long trek each day. Eight children share a room with double decker beds and a squat toilet; there are communal showers in another building. The school has a kitchen with a three-member staff who prepare three meals a day for the children.

When I asked what more we could do to help, Zhang shook his head. The children enjoy free tuition and textbooks and pay only 10 yuan a week for their meals, he said.

"We are doing fine," Zhang said. "I hope that these children continue to appreciate all the help they've received from people around the country."

At least six of the students we sponsored have already graduated from Bazi and have gone on to Nanba Junior Middle School, about 20 km away. It turned out that the girl my husband and I were sponsoring has a twin sister; both are now eighth-grade students at Nanba.

We moved on to Nanba. Some 90 percent of the buildings in Nanba town buckled, including the classroom building of the junior middle school. However, not a single student or teacher there died. At the time of the earthquake, the students were still in their dormitory, which somehow survived the devastation.

Today, a new middle school has risen from the ruins, thanks to donations from people in Hebei province, including the survivors of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed 240,000 local people. Schoolmaster Lu Shiguo said there are more than 1,400 students and 109 teachers at the boarding school. In addition to new dormitory and classroom buildings, there is also a new library and a new laboratory building.

However, the school still faces problems as it seeks to reclaim its reputation as one of the best in the county. Heaps of metal, wood and dirt litter the schoolyard. The school has yet to raise enough money to build a running track or install other sports facilities. Some 22 teachers and their families still live in prefab mobile houses. Teachers' housing has not been part of the school's reconstruction, Lu explained.

Outside the prefab houses, smoke billowed from the chimneys of a brick factory, spilling into the school compound. Teachers complain that the factory often operates into the night and that the noise from the machinery disrupts their sleep.

Most annoyingly, the supply of running water is cut off periodically. "We can't stop classes because we don't have water," Lu said. "However, it is really difficult for us even to keep the toilets clean."

We were impressed by the success of reconstruction efforts in Sichuan. But while new schools, new homes, and entire new towns dot the landscape, nitty-gritty problems persist, especially in the more remote areas. We must continue to support reconstruction in these areas to ensure that students here enjoy the same quality education as their peers in the cities.

The author is Assistant Editor-in-Chief of China Daily and can be reached at lixing@chinadaily.com.cn.