Poor students have more equitable access to education and employment opportunities: the road to hope is getting wider and wider

"From the mountains to Beijing, my steps have gone a little far." Pan Linchao, a poor student from Congjiang County, Guizhou Province, was admitted to Beijing Normal University with excellent results in 2019, "I was able to get into the university thanks to the road of hope built for us by the state." ”

Like Pan Linchao, there are many students who benefit from the national education poverty alleviation policy. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a total of 5.1405 million poor students in China have received higher education, showing a trend of increasing year by year. A series of support policies have created more equitable access to education and employment opportunities for poor students, and the road to hope is getting wider and wider.

A change in the perception of the countryside

Pan Linchao is still unforgettable, and the villagers of the whole village walk for him and 3 other classmates who were admitted to the university. In his village, there are more children who help their parents work than children who go to school, and village cadres and teachers go to their homes to mobilize children to study and often eat behind closed doors. After the "Pujiu" education work was carried out in Jiang County, the villagers gradually changed their ideological concepts, and the number of children studying in the village gradually increased.

In 2014, 4 high school students in the village were admitted to college, and the village exploded: "I didn't expect that our village also produced college students!" "Since that year, eating long table feasts and beating gongs and drums to send college students out of the village has become a tradition in the village. Nowadays, the village has sent more than 20 college students, and the children's admission to college has become the greatest glory of parents.

The key is to enable more children in poor mountainous areas to be admitted to universities and to consolidate the foundation of compulsory education. According to the data, by the end of 2020, the number of students who dropped out of compulsory education nationwide dropped from more than 600,000 at the beginning of the establishment of the ledger to 682, of which more than 200,000 students who dropped out of school with a record of lika achieved dynamic clearance. Nowadays, China's basic education has solved the problem of "learning" and is taking advantage of the momentum towards the vision of "good learning".

"Thanks to good policies, I was able to get into such a good university." The "good policy" mentioned by Pan Linchao is a special plan implemented by the state to recruit students from rural and poor areas in key colleges and universities.

In recent years, China has continued to implement special plans, continuously optimized and improved policies and measures, and built a long-term mechanism to ensure that students in rural and poor areas attend key universities. The number of students enrolled in the special program has increased from 10,000 in 2012 to 117,000 in 2020, and a total of 700,000 students have gone out of poor areas and entered key universities through the special program.

Form a powerful synergy

"The seniors basically signed employment agreements before graduation, and most of them went to large companies, which greatly enhanced my confidence and allowed me to see the hope of changing the fate of my family." Cai Lin, a student admitted to the Department of Electronics and Communication Technology of Tianjin Electronic Information Vocational and Technical College in 2019, told reporters.

Cai Lin's hometown is far away in a remote mountain village in Lingtai County, Pingliang City, Gansu Province, his father was injured and bedridden because he went out to work, and the four of them went to school, all supported by their mother's meager income from farming. Cai Lin originally wanted to go to Guangzhou to work after finishing high school, and the high school class teacher called to tell her the news of the expansion of higher vocational recruitment and suggested that she try it.

After being admitted to vocational school, Cai Lin's life has opened a new chapter: learning culture and skills in school, interning at the top of the enterprise, learning English by herself... For two years, she kept her time to the limit. "I want to learn the technology and become a high-skilled worker, the treatment is not bad, and I am respected." When it comes to the road ahead, Cai Lin is full of confidence.

Vocational education, which is connected to education and industry at the other, is an effective way to block the intergenerational transmission of poverty. In recent years, east-west cooperation, counterpart support, "group-style" support, higher vocational recruitment... Higher vocational education has formed a strong synergy to overcome poverty.

In 2016, Wuxi Commercial Vocational and Technical College and a leading domestic general aviation enterprise jointly established the Aviation Flight Academy. After selection, the first batch of 28 children of poor Tibetan families were recruited to carry out helicopter flight and maintenance training. At present, 11 trainees have obtained college diplomas, and 8 trainees have obtained helicopter pilot licenses and successfully employed, with an average monthly income of more than 12,000 yuan.

"One person is vocational education, one person is employed, and one family is lifted out of poverty." There are more and more such stories. According to statistics, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, more than 8 million students from poor families have received middle and higher vocational education, and in 2019 and 2020, more than 2.7 million people have been enrolled in vocational colleges and universities. By the end of 2020, the number of corresponding students enrolled in vocational colleges in the eastern region exceeded 1 million, and 2.3479 million people were enrolled in 7 categories of funding objects, such as students from poor families who had established archives and established cards.

Weave a secure net

"I was able to find a job smoothly thanks to the school's precise support for graduates from poor families who have set up a file." Gao Xiang, a student at Beijing Institute of Technology, is a recent graduate this year and has just signed a contract with an Internet company with an annual salary of about 300,000 yuan. He comes from a rural family in Wenden City, Shandong Province, and the family has difficult economic conditions.

After entering the university, he also applied for the living expenses of poor students and the special subsidy for students from poor families in Lika, the education poverty alleviation and relief fund, and at the same time enjoyed the national bursary, which solved part of the living expenses in school and greatly reduced the economic pressure on the family.

"Not a single student will be dropped out of school due to family economic difficulties", China guarantees it from the system. Today, China has built a student funding policy system with Chinese characteristics covering preschool education to postgraduate education. Among them, the higher education stage has established a diversified mixed funding policy system including national scholarships and grants, student loans, new student enrollment subsidies, graduate students' "three assistance" post allowances, work-study assistance, on-campus scholarships and grants, hardship subsidies, tuition reductions and exemptions, etc., realizing the "three worries" before, during and after the enrollment of students with family economic difficulties, and weaving a solid security net.

"Help poor students to pursue higher education, so that they can change their fate and usher in a better life through knowledge." In the long run, it is also to cultivate talents for the party, the country, and the revitalization of the countryside. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Education said.