Photo source: Tengchong project officer Yang Chunbo

For a long time, the Tin Ka Ping Foundation has been adhering to the concept of "The Future of China lies in Education", and since 2018, it has supported Humana People to People (Switzerland) Yunnan Representative Office to implement the "Preschools of the Future” project" in Tengchong City. Caring for public welfare, we will continue to support the development of early childhood education in remote rural areas. 

So far, the project has reached 7 townships in Tengchong City and supported 38 preschool classes, benefiting 1378 children and 42 teachers.

Now we have reached the end of the project, and the project closing meeting was held in the Tengchong Teacher Development Center on July 1, 2023.

Tengchong Education and Sports Bureau Office Director: Feng Changyuan, Puchuan Center Primary School Principal: Huang Bifei, Menglian Primary school Vice Principal: He Xiaojuan, the Preschool Classes teacher representatives, HPP project support officers Hao Xiaopeng and Huang Min, the local project leaders, all in all a total of more than 30 people participated in the project closure meeting.

In the past five years, the project has comprehensively improved the quality of preschool teachers and preschool education in remote villages by supplementing and improving the hardware facilities of preschool classes, enhancing teachers' abilities, and strengthening home-kindergarten co-parenting activities, so as to help the standardized and professional sustainable development of preschool classes in rural areas.

At the project closure meeting, everyone reviewed and summarized the implementation of the project, and also exchanged views on the future construction and development of rural preschool classes.

First, the Director of the office of the Bureau of Education and Sports, Feng Changyuan, expressed positive affirmation of the implementation of the project and the results achieved. He mentioned that the implementation of the project has helped the local rural preschool class to repair the school building and improve the professional ability of teachers, which has been recognized by the local central school and villagers. At the same time, he also hopes to continue to cooperate with HPP and continue to support the development of rural preschool education in Tengchong through the Preschools of the Future project model. Finally, Director Feng Changyuan presented a commemorative plaque to Tin Ka Ping Foundation and HPP to express his gratitude.

Huang Bifei, principal of Puchuan Central Primary School, and He Xiaojuan, Vice principal of Menglian Primary School, gave positive recognition and support to the project's enhancement of teachers' comprehensive skills.

Since the implementation of the project, special attention has been paid to the growth and development of rural preschool teachers. Through various professional and systematic trainings, they have not only improved their teaching skills, but also mastered the methods and essentials of home-kindergarten co-parenting and gamified teaching for children.

The teachers also expressed their feelings of the changes before and after the project intervention and from their personal point of view. Before the project, rural education was based on primary education, and both parents and teachers believed that it was enough to learn knowledge. After the project, teachers received professional training and realized that primary education could not help children learn and develop better, so they gradually changed the original didactic teaching into games, corner activities and other ways to guide children's learning, fully mobilize their learning enthusiasm, and enable children to acquire knowledge and skills in the process of playing. It fully embodies the teaching concept of learning and playing in preschool education.

The achievements of the project are there for all to see, and the areas that need to be improved should also be discussed together.

The project is coming to an end. In the future, on the basis of continuing to follow the Preschools of the Future project model, how to better educate and guide children's moral, intellectual and physical beauty and physical development, how to deal with related problems encountered in the teaching process of children, how to better serve teachers, how to implement relevant teaching programs for training, and how to make parents better cooperate with teachers – all of this was actively discussed by the participants and all put forward personal opinions and suggestions.

It's an end and a new beginning.

We sincerely hope that all preschool classes can continue to develop on the road of standardized management and professional teaching, provide high-quality preschool education services for local 3-6 year old rural children, and actively participate in the construction of rural revitalization through education revitalization.

Project introduction:

Tengchong POF is funded by Tin Ka Ping Foundation, and HPP cooperates with Tengchong Education and Sports Bureau to assist in the implementation of the "One village, One preschool" policy. The project takes early education as the entry point, improves the hardware facilities and teaching aids of preschool classes and organizes professional and systematic training for teachers regularly. The project team regularly supervises preschool classes to help teachers solve difficulties and problems in daily teaching activities. In addition, the preschool classes have set up the parent committee, carried out parent training and promoted preschool-home co-education. The project focuses on game-based teaching, provides tools such as teacher management kits and teaching materials, improves the coverage of preschool education in rural areas, and improves the quality of preschool education in rural areas, so that more children can receive high-quality preschool education.

This project is supported by the Tin Ka Ping Foundation.

This article represents the views of the author and does not represent the views or positions of the donor.