Author: Li Rongmei,  project officer

On September 22, 2021, the project launching ceremony and pre-job training for teachers were held in Qiaojia County Education and Sports Bureau. Among them, more than 50 people participated, including Yang Jingyu, Qiaojia County Education and Sports Bureau Section Chief, Peng Yuchun, Deputy Director of the Overseas NGO Office under the Public Security Bureau of Qiaojia County, Li Jiancai, HPP support officer, the Qiaojia County POF project team, leaders of central schools in Qiaojia County, and preschool teachers of the project.

Group photo of participants

This time, with the support of ASML Foundation, Boehringer&Ingelheim (China) Investment Co., Ltd., Dadikid Early Childhood Education Group, Societe Generale (China) Co., Ltd., Tin Ka Ping Foundation, China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, and other individuals and institutions, HPP continued to cooperate with Qiaojia County Education and Sports Bureau. After completing the field baseline survey, it was determined which 26 preschools would be supported and they were successfully opened in September.

Preschool class

On the day of the meeting, Yang Jingyu, Qiaojia County Education and Sports Bureau Section Chief, introduced that since 2018, HPP’s Preschools of The Future Project has worked in Qiaojia County, which has contributed to the development of local preschool education. Although the project supported by the World Bank ends in 2021, with the support and efforts of HPP, more partners were mobilized to support additional 26 preschools in Qiaojia County. It is hoped that teachers in these classes can continue to learn and make progress under such superior conditions and apply professional and systematic knowledge to practical teaching for promoting the development of preschool education in remote villages.

 Yang Jingyu from Qiaojia County Education and Sports Bureau is delivering a speech

Peng Yuchun, Deputy Director of the Overseas NGO Office under the Public Security Bureau of Qiaojia County, also thanked HPP for its contribution to local preschool education, and hoped that HPP could make persistent efforts to carry out projects on the basis of complying with national and local regulations to serve more rural children.

Peng Yuchun is making a speech

Fang Song, Director of the Academic Affairs Office of Lufang Township Center School, as a representative, introduced that there were many problems in preschool education in remote areas because of limited conditions. For example, the "primary school type blackboard rote learning” top-down teaching method is a very obvious problem. The POF of HPP is not only professional but also rich in experience, which will inject new vitality into our rural preschool education. Teachers should actively participate in training and learning, constantly improve their professional knowledge and skills, apply what they have learned to change the traditional teaching methods.

Fang Song, Director of the Academic Affairs Office of Lufang Township Center School

In order to make everyone further understand the POF Project, Li Jiancai, the support officer of HPP, and Buzi Yiri, the project leader in Qiaojia County, introduced the HPP organization, the POF Project, and the current situation of the project in Qiaojia County, etc.

Li Jiancai introduced institutions and projects at the launch of the pre-job training.

The POF Project is a brand project of ‘The Effective Philanthropy Multiplier in China’, and is mainly carried out in villages in Yunnan and Sichuan. With continuous development and adjustment, the POF model has been combined with the government's policies of “Changing pre-primary classes to preschools” and “One village, One preschool”, and has developed into a mature model suitable for remote rural areas. The project improves both the hardware and playing and teaching aids in preschools as well as enhances both teaching ability and parenting capacity. What’s more, it changes the previous traditional education model into play-based teaching under the guidance of the ‘National development guide for children aged 3-6’.

With the great support of Qiaojia Education and Sports Bureau, HPP’s POF program has supported 42 local preschools and benefited 1260 kids since 2018.

Project director Buzi Yiri is introducing POF model

After the launching ceremony, all preschool teachers covered by the project will continue to participate in the five-day pre-job training organized by HPP. Chen Zhongxian, a teacher of Qiaojia County Kindergarten, and Zheng An, a trainer of HPP, were invited to pass on the professional preschool education knowledge and skills to the teachers.

Chen Zhongxian, from Qiaojia County Kindergarten, is explaining the preschool game activities

Trainer Zheng An is guiding teachers to learn the structure of children's activities and exercise children's ability by drawing

Finally, the teachers participating in the training summarized the knowledge they learned during the training in groups, and displayed and shared others with posters.

Group photo of teachers participating in the training

This is a new starting point for more rural preschools and teachers. In the future, HPP will continue to promote the development of rural preschool education.

Project introduction:

Preschools of The Future in Qiaojia County Project is supported by the World Bank, the couple Gu Tiehua and Fei Zhaofen, Lipoid Foundation (Germany) Beijing Representative Office, ASML Foundation, Boehringer&Ingelheim (China) Investment Co., Ltd., Dadikid Early Childhood Education Group, Societe Generale (China) Co., Ltd., Tin Ka Ping Foundation, China Charities Aid Foundation for Children and Ms. Han Xu. Starting from preschool education, HPP cooperates with the local Education and Sports Bureau to provide a safe and comfortable learning and playing environment for children in remote rural areas. The curriculum covers the fields of health, language, society, science and art, helping the rural school-age preschool children to achieve comprehensive development in all aspects including morality, intelligence, physique and aesthetics. The project focuses on two modules, namely, teaching hardware and playing and teaching aids, as well as improving teachers' professional ability. At the same time, the project supervises and manages the daily operation of preschools, and assists teachers in  training parents, so as to realize home-school cooperation. The project aims to provide high-quality preschool education services for rural children and make them fully prepared for primary schools.

The article only represents the author's personal views, and is not related to the donor