On July 14, 2017, Deputy Secretary of the County Party Committee Zheng Qingjiang, Deputy Secretary for Reform of County Party Committee Lu Dipeng and 2 support officials from Yunnan Agriculture Department, Wang Bin and He Yingxin visited Ximeng ‘Little Sun’ POF (Preschool of the Future). The County Deputy Secretary was interested in knowing more about Humana People to People (HPP) POF projects, he asked about POF issues and about POF children’s care and support. POF Ximeng Project Leader Hao Xiaopeng introduced all HPP POF projects in China which includes POF Shangri-La, POF Heqing, POF Butuo, POF Zhenkang and POF Qichun. He presented about the POF situation and the number of children who are benefitting in each preschool. To explain more about POF Ximeng he used a PPT were he presented the partners who are supporting the preschools and the mode of support for each preschool, the duration of the funding, classes covered, payments made by the parents, recruitment of the teachers and how they are paid, classroom management by the preschool teachers and daily operation of the preschools. He also presented about how the POFs have brought change within the community by developing the parents’ love to send their children to preschool and also a spirit of ownership where they feel the preschools belong to them. Lastly he presented about the challenges faced in the POF projects which included the relatively low teachers’ salaries which range from 800-1700RMB, need for more children’s nutrition and more uniforms for preschool children.

The Project Leader (Hao Xiaopeng) explained about the POF situation in Ximeng.

At the end of the visit the County Deputy Party Secretary Zheng Qingjiang was pleased with the operation of the preschools therefore he said that the project is doing well and he hoped that civil society organizations could also assist in the development of the preschools. He hoped for long term cooperation between the government and HPP in expanding pre-school education. He said he hoped for the opening of 20 preschools where the government will pay for half the costs while HPP took care of the other half. 

Education is a right for every child so it is good to have more POFs opened in the villages.

Preschool is the basis for children to develop skills where they learn by exploring and by doing.

This proposal made by the County Party Secretary is very good because this will be a welcome development for children in some of the villages where there are no preschools. Early education is an opportunity which should not be missed by any child. This idea to open 20 preschools in villages of Ximeng is good for the children and it will go a long way in helping the children to develop socially when they start to meet and interact with other children. Preschools in the villages do not only benefit  children but the parents also through meetings and trainings organized by the project and also by the preschool teachers where they learn more about early childhood development thus they become wiser on how to take care of their young children, hygiene and nutrition. The teachers who are recruited within the community also develop skills of working with the community, teaching small children and they also play a leading role in the development of the community. The teachers also develop their capacity through monthly trainings which are organized by the project. 

Brief Summary of the project:

The Preschools of the Future/POF project in Ximeng is funded by Shanghai based Huang Yicong Foundation and executed by Humana People to People China. The project right now supports 420+18=438 children aged 3-6 years in natural villages of Ximeng County, Puer City. Over the course of 3 years, the project intends to train teachers and build both the teachers’ and community management capacity of the POFs.

The project also pays attention to children’s health and nutrition issues. It provides nutritional meals to children and helps to develop children’s good hygiene habits in the preschool. The project aims to be sustainable by developing the community’s capacity in order to take over the POF schools after 3 years intensive project support followed by a one year phasing out period.

This project is funded by Shanghai based Huang Yicong Foundation, China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, Humana People to People Baltic and executed by Humana People to People China.

Contents in this article reflect only the views of the authors and not of the funders.