Education Thrives In Nyingchi

KANG YAN & CHEN SHUNLIN

By the end of October 1999, there were 276 schools in the Nyingchi Prefecture, with 22,868 students of the Tibetan, Han, Moinba and Lhoba ethnic groups. They include one high school, nine middle schools and one polytechnic secondary school, with a total of 2,377 students; 66 primary schools and 198 study classes, with 20,491 pupils. More than 95 percent of the schoolage children are attending schools.

INCREASED INVESTMENT. Such achievement was made as a result partly of increased government allocation earmarked for the development of school education in the prefecture. The prefectural government decided in 1996 that the local investment in education should be no less than 10 percent of the financial revenues, and gradually rise to 15 percent. In July 1997, it decided that beginning in 1999 the prefectural investment in education should reach 15 percent of the local financial revenues. Guangdong and Fujian provinces have also invested heavily in education in Nyingchi. They promised to invest 45.117 million Yuan in the prefecture to help develop local education. By the end of 1999, some 17.457 million Yuan has been made for the purpose.

IMPROVED ENVIRONMENT. All counties in the Nyingchi Prefecture have middle schools, and all townships government-owned primaries schools. Statistics released in 1999 show that schools in the prefecture boasted a construction area of 163,679 square meters. TV educational system has been introduced in Nyingchi. It is in a position to produce and show various kinds of educational programs. Major schools in the prefecture are complete with such teaching aids as slides and computers. For instance, the Nyingchi No.1 Middle School boasts the multi-media teaching and campus network for educational purpose. All county middle schools have installed satellite ground reception stations for educational purpose, and schools directly under the prefectural educational commission own 95 Pentium computers. Schools in Nyingchi are staffed with 1,490 teachers (including 144 who have already retired), including 322 middle school teachers and 1,024 primary school teachers. Four of the middle school teachers hold senior academic titles equivalent to associate professors in colleges and universities in China.

PROSPECTS. Nyingchi is set to popularize the six-year compulsory school education in 2003, and the nine-year compulsory school education in 2008. Nyingchi will develop high-school education in a big way. Efforts will be made to have high schools (and middle schools in five counties) which can satisfy the need of children of farmers and herders. Efforts will also be made to promote development of vocational education. It is expected that vocational schools in the prefecture will have 600 students. Efforts will also be made that a computer educational center will be set up before 2008. Beginning in 2000, some 70 teachers and 20 school headmasters will be trained each year to meet the school need. By 2004, some 30 percent of primary school teachers are college graduates; and 45 percent of the middle school teachers university graduates. In each high school there will be one or two who hold MA degrees.