Children take a post-lunch nap at the Muziping Village Kindergarten in Tongren.(Photos By Hou Liqiang / China Daily)
The kindergarten in Muzi-ping village, in the Wanshan district, was also once primary school classrooms, and almost all the toys are made from locally grown bamboo.
Tongren's total revenue was 37.88 billion yuan from 2011 to last year, and since 2012, the city government has allocated 5 percent of its annual administrative budget to the kindergarten project. District governments are given 10,000 yuan for every facility they establish in the mountains, and the city government allocates 300 yuan a year to every child for teaching materials.
Long said every department of the city government donates thousands of yuan annually, and they also actively seek sponsorship from businesses.
"Many kids in the rural areas are left-behind children. They are cared for by their grandparents, who are usually poorly educated and unable to do much for them. We have seen great improvements in the children's linguistic skills, cognitive competence and memory capacity since they entered the kindergartens," she added.
According to tests conducted by East China Normal University in Tongren, after spending a year to 18 months at a kindergarten, language competence in children ages 4 to 5 improves by 23 percent, while cognitive competence is 27 percent better and memory capacity rises by 34 percent.
Behavioral changes
The children's behavior and hygiene have also improved. Long Jiawei, 4, and her sister Long Jiali, 6, have lived with their grandmother, Shi Qingjiao, since last year, when their parents moved east to Zhejiang province for work. Shi has rheumatism, and the 75-year-old said all she can do for the girls is cook food and wash their clothes.
"My granddaughters' awareness of hygiene has changed a lot since they started at the kindergarten. Now, they ask to change their clothes and have showers every day. They say they can't fall asleep if they don't take a shower," she said.
Wu Changfeng cares for three grandchildren because their parents are working in large cities. "If it were not for the kindergarten, I would hardly have time to work on our farm. I'm looking after three children, so I have to take them to the farm while I am working there," said the 54-year-old, whose husband has also moved away for work.
She said her 4-year-old granddaughter, Tang Hanjiang, who was taciturn and rarely greeted visitors, has become far more outgoing since she started at the local kindergarten.
Rising enrollment
Last year, the enrollment rate in Tongren's rural kindergarten's jumped to more than 84 percent, from 45 percent in 2013. Although that's 9 percent higher than the national rate, the city government plans to raise the number further by upgrading all of the mountain village kindergartens.
Long, from the city's education commission, said that in the coming three years the facilities will be upgraded and more fully qualified teachers will be employed. She is also drafting a plan to provide every child with a free simple lunch.
It will take about 20 years for the full impact of the project to be seen, but education is an important way of eradicating poverty, according to Long.
"In poverty-stricken areas such as Tongren, it's key for people to make their way to colleges or universities to eradicate poverty. In addition to occupational and compulsory education, importance should also be attached to preschool learning, so we can build up the talent pool and save future generations from poverty," she said.
