Kham Aid Foundation

Schoolchildren get a lesson in oral health from Kham Aid volunteers

Community Education Initiative

Related reports

Wayao Village School Re-opens - October 1, 2007

Why children drop out - one school headmaster's views - May, 2006

Background: tuition is no longer the problem - or is it?

Education in China is changing, and the latest news is that the Central Government has mandated a reduction in tuition for children up to grade 9 (junior middle school).  They have announced that fees will be gradually reduced until education to grade 9 is completely free.

Kham Aid is keeping close watch on the new policies, and especially how they are implemented at the local level.  Local implementation is not always in line with national policy. In the past the schools have found ways to charge students even when there weren't supposed to be any charges.  

A huge ongoing problem is that money that is supposed to be provided to the schools is often eaten up by unscrupulous mid-level officials before it reaches the schools that need it.  So, tuition may be going down, but the schools are still desperate for cash and quality of education - never high even in the best of times - is at risk as the schools tighten their belts.
 

Why Little Tashi Can't Read

In many Tibetan towns there are few jobs for high school graduates, so children aren't motivated to study. Poor equipment like this broken blackboard make it difficult for children to learn effectively.

Because of primitive living conditions in rural schools, teachers yearn for a transfer elsewhere or a way to leave the profession entirely.

Tuition support is not a sure-fire cure for educational failure.  Tibetan children face many other obstacles to education, for example:

• Parents are concerned about the child's well-being at boarding school away from home.
• Tibetan children don't find the curriculum relevant to their culture and their lives.
• Teachers are demoralized by the difficult living conditions, so teaching quality is poor.
• Teachers don't speak the same Tibetan dialect as their students - if they speak Tibetan at all.
• Schools may lack amenities such as heat, electricity, blackboards, desks, or chalk.
• Schools are too far away, and parents are unwilling to send young children to board at school.
• Poor nutrition retards children's intellectual development and reduces academic achievement.
• Lack of transportation to school - important when children are too ill or tired to walk.
• Children don't have any role models to inspire them to study.
• Parents are illiterate and cannot help with homework or provide encouragement to their children.
• Children are sick and families cannot obtain or afford proper medical care for them.
• Parents prefer to send children, especially boys, to the monastery where they do receive a good religious education but will not learn useful subjects such as math, history, or Chinese.
• Parents need the children at home to help with chores.
• Children, especially girls, who board at school may suffer from abuse from teachers or other school staff.
• Because of the distance to school, children wait until they are 10 or 12 years old to start grade one, which forecloses any possibility of continuing past primary school.
• Parents don't think education is useful because it does not reliably lead to good paying jobs
• Attending school interferes with children learning farming and herding skills, thereby rendering them unfit for rural life.

Many of these problems are rooted in the community and can only be successfully addressed at the community level. This is why Kham Aid Foundation is launching a new effort: The Community Education Initiative. 

How it works

A team of Kham Aid education experts visits a village and conducts interviews of children, parents, teachers, and administrators to find out what problems are preventing children from getting a good education. Many education problems are amenable to existing or past Kham Aid programs such as: renovation of the school and teacher living quarters, grants for school equipment, teacher training, Tibetan language books, vocational training to enhance employability, and so forth.  Other problems can be addressed through new programs, for example by subsidizing a tractor to carry children to school, bringing in role models to speak at the school, or arranging medical care for sick children.

The team performs a cost-benefit analysis of the various problems faced by the village and determines which interventions will produce the biggest positive change. Then, we implement these programs.

Getting involved

How do you, a Kham Aid supporter, support the Community Education Initiative?  By sponsoring a child in the chosen village.  In this new program, rather than simply paying the tuition cost of a single child, your donation will be pooled with others to help all of the children in the village.  You will still receive personal information about your particular sponsored child, however your support will not just go for tuition, it will go for teacher training, a school bus, a visit by a nurse, or a new school roof - whatever that community most needs.  In the past, Kham Aid worked with the schools, but we didn't get to know the families.  Family support is crucially important for children, so in the CEI we'll be getting to know the parents, the neighbors, and the community leaders who shape each child's world view.  And you, the sponsor, will be getting to know them, too, through regular updates prepared by our education team.

Cost to the sponsor: see sponsor information.
Number of children to be sponsored in a typical village: 20-60
Length of Kham Aid commitment to the village: six years

What we will demand of participating villages

This program will not operate as pure charity, we demand active participation from the community that's being helped.  Quid pro quo requested from the village might consist of:
1. forming a Parent-Teacher Association that meets twice a year to discuss the school and children's needs
2. headmaster and village headman agreeing to stay in their jobs for at least three years.
3. contributed labor for school repairs
4. sharing information with Kham Aid on test scores and other measurable outcomes such as attendance
5. complete transparency in spending of grant monies.

When does it start?

Information gathering and village selection start in the summer of 2006, and the program will launch in early 2007.

For more information

Write to education(at)khamaid.org.

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