Pupils receive piglets as study incentive
Reward based on school performance also seeks to help lift local economy
Primary school students in a poor region of southwestern China have received piglets as a reward to encourage them to study hard as well as to revitalise the local economy.
Last week, 20 piglets were given to the families of 20 pupils from the Xiangyang primary school in Yiliang county, Yunnan, the
Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported.
The scheme was sponsored by the Shanghai Xiangwu Public Welfare Fund to help improve rural education and the local economy, said Hou Changliang, a schoolteacher.
The students were selected according to their performance. Hou’s videos posted to short video app Douyin showed the students receiving the pigs and posing for a photograph during an award ceremony. The children had big red paper flowers on their chests to symbolise honour.
The pigs weighed between 5 to 10kg each and had white, yellow and black fur. The animals were given to the students after they drew lots, Hou said.
Parents were seen in the video laughing and picking up the pigs before placing them in sacks, carrying them or leading them with a leash.
“This kind of reward has not only encouraged students but also helped their families,” said Hou in the video.
“Although they don’t see the benefits from the piglets immediately, they will get more benefits from them in the future,” he said.
Hou said that he often received messages from internet users offering to donate school materials for the students, but he often refused them.
“I don’t want our kids to have to think about relying on donations or that they don’t need to work hard. I hope they understand they should work hard and only through this can they have dignity and power,” Hou said.
“These parents should be proud their children can earn the family a pig at such a young age,” wrote one commenter on Weibo.
“This reward is more useful than a certificate of merit. I can see parents will have the money to buy their kids books and stationery next year,” another netizen said.
Yiliang county is one of China’s most impoverished counties. In 2019, local residents’ annual disposable income was 27,291 yuan (HK$33,365) per person.
Local authorities said in June 2020 all families in the region had been lifted out of poverty, and they were among the last ones to benefit from the Communist Party’s poverty alleviation campaign.
Hou, a Hunan native, has been teaching at Xiangyang Elementary School for 11 years. He first went there as a volunteer teacher after graduating from university. The school has 65 students, with only four teachers, including Hou and wife Lei Yudan.
“I hope more people can pay attention to rural education. Compared with materials, villages are short on teachers,” Hou said.