Nooneleftbehind

The Internet makes high-quality education a reality in small rural schools

Every morning, fifth-grade schoolgirl Liu Lu goes to school with a smile on her face. But today little Liu and her classmates are even more excited, as they are looking forward to their favorite subject: art class. They will be taught for the first time how to use clay to create their own artworks. Liu has chosen to make a clay baby crocodile.

Liu is a student at Chengzhuang Primary School, a school suffering from a severe lack of resources. Located in Lankao County in central China’s Henan Province, the school has a total of 150 students, but only nine teachers. But thanks to online education, students now have the chance to attend art classes despite the lack of funds and teaching staff.

In May, Liu and her classmates started taking creative design classes given by Shanghai-based teacher Gong Fei, of the Shanghai Chagall Art Education. This was made possible by Cctalk, an online live teaching software produced by Hujiang, one of China’s major online education companies. “The creativity and imagination showed by the students really surprised me. After all, they had never taken art classes before,” Gong told China Central Television.

In the past, due to the few number of teachers, students in Chengzhuang Primary School were only able to attend math and Chinese classes. However, Cctalk has opened a wide range of new subjects to students, such as English, music, science and arts. The screen which hangs in front of the blackboard has enriched students’ knowledge and expanded their horizons by connecting them with teachers nationwide, and even worldwide.

Chengzhuang’s success with online education is only but one example of Hujiang’s Hujia Project, which was launched in 2015 with the purpose of updating traditional educational methods with new technologies. By enabling the sharing of resources, the project makes it possible for students in rural schools to enjoy high-quality education in an easier, fairer and happier way.

According to Dai Minghong, who is in charge of promoting the Hujia Project, rural schools like Chengzhuang Primary School can use the platform to gain access to high-quality education free of charge, as the costs are offset by revenue from Hujiang’s other paid services. The Hujia Project also benefits from the support of several Chinese nongovernmental organizations.