“Clap your hands. Wash them often...” Xiaofei and his classmates sing a nursery rhyme each day at the beginning of their class, and it is clear by the smiles on their faces that the children are all happy to be in school.

Local Yi children sing along with their teachers in the kindergarten of Jiebanada Village on August 21, 2020. Dong Ning

The village is located in Zhaojue County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the county with the largest Yi ethnic group community in China. It is also among those counties that have not yet been lifted out of poverty in Sichuan. Due to the lack of regular transportation, geographical remoteness and lack of educational resources, the local people have not had many opportunities to improve their livelihoods, leaving them in the poverty trap.

With the implementation of poverty alleviation plans, the Liangshan prefecture has realized that poverty alleviation can only be achieved by improving education. So they launched a “Preschoolers Learn Mandarin” project, aimed at helping children like Xiaofei learn Mandarin, or standard Chinese, to lay a solid language foundation for their future.

Preschoolers Learn Mandarin

“Before coming to school, Xiaofei could hardly speak any Mandarin, but now he knows it so well that sometimes he offers to teach me at home,” said his mother Azhi Wuji.

In Liangshan, the Yi people speak their own language and children like Xiaofei’s brother Jineng Wuha, only started learning Mandarin after he entered primary school. Wuha is nine years old and now in second grade. His mother is disappointed with his academic performance.

Unable to understand or speak Mandarin, Wuha could not follow what the teacher was saying until the second grade. This led to his lack of interest in classes and subsequent poor grades. “I am worried,” said his mother.

Many Yi children have the same experience. Their poor mandarin skills mean they lag behind in their education, which can have a knock-on effect later in life by impacting their job prospects.

Jineng Xiaofei and his mother pose for a photo in front of their kindergarten classroom. Wen Qing

Wuji understands the problem firsthand. “When I went out to look for a job in other regions, I couldn’t understand what people were saying and they couldn’t’t understand me. It was very frustrating,” she said. For this reason, she is determined that her children should speak Mandarin well.

Pre-school education has become an important way to stop poverty from spreading to the next generation in Liangshan. In May 2018, Liangshan Prefecture launched the pilot project “Preschoolers Learn Mandarin” establishing 2,724 village kindergartens, including one in Jiebanada Village. A total of 112,800 preschoolers went to Mandarin classes. Xiaofei is one of them.

“In addition to teaching children to speak Mandarin, we also help them cultivate good living habits, such as washing their feet before bed and hands before meals,” said Luo Ying, a teacher at the kindergarten. In the past, many Yi people lived close to their livestock and paid little attention to hygiene, which led to health problems. Therefore, helping children develop good hygine habits has become one of the important tasks of preschool education.

As the Liangshan prefecture is among those areas still stuck in abject poverty in China, the local government is faced with financial difficulties, especially in education. In the fight against poverty, Liangshan is determined to do anything it can to support education, gradually achieving the goal of “one kindergarten in each village.” Kindergartens are either built inside village primary schools, in renovated village committee offices, or in rented villagers’ houses.

In order to attract more children to school, each student has been offered a lunch allowance of RMB 3 per day. “Previously, many parents sent their children for the free lunch,” said Huang Jing, who is in charge of the “Preschoolers Learn Mandarin” program in Liangshan. “But after a while, when they found that their children had really changed and made progress, they were very positive about kindergartens.”

Huang said the first batch of kindergarten graduates are now in the compulsory education stage. “Through our follow-up survey, we found that they are more focused during class, willing to communicate with teachers, and able to get better grades,” he said.

In December 2019, the Communications University of China conducted a sampling assessment of the language development level of preschool children in Liangshan after they entered the first grade of primary school. The pass rate was 99.03 percent. In addition to Mandarin, schools in Liangshan also teach Yi language and culture.

Farmers’ Night Schools

While preschool education is improved, night schools for farmers have also been launched in Liangshan in order to help villagers master skills needed in their daily life and work.

On the morning of August 24 this year, 36-year-old farmer Adi Aqie of Xiaoshan Village arrived by motorcycle at the farmers’ night school at the village community center. Lectures are given in the Yi language by an agricultural technician from the county’s agriculture bureau on topics including “How to increase the yields of potatoes,” which Aqie was very interested in. The area was hit by hail several times this year, damaging many potato seedlings. As a result, the potato harvest could be greatly reduced, which made Aqie anxious.

Local farmers from Xiaoshan Village, Mianshan Town of Xide County attend a class held at a square of their village. Dong Ning

Agricultural technician Lama Wusha began his lecture by offering salient advice. “When planting potatoes, putting three seeds in one pit can best guarantee the survival rate and yield.” As he talked it was clear to see farmers beginning to appreciate that there was hope ahead.

Xiaoshan Village is located in Mianshan Town of Xide County. It used to be the only village living below the poverty line. The absence of production technology and skills are the main reasons for the dire situation.

“Lack of science and technology [skills] means farmers cannot reach their full potential,” said Bajiu Ertie, the village head. He cited an example of an incident in November 2015, when a farmer’s sow gave birth to more than 10 piglets, but because the farmer did not know how to take care of them, all the piglets died of cold.

To avoid such things happening again, Wu Xiao, the then first Party secretary of the village, organized a group of farmers to watch videos on piglet breeding technology to learn how to help piglets survive winter. Wu’s efforts led to the founding of a farmers’ night school.

“Although named night school, the classes are not only taught in the evening. They are arranged according to farmers’ needs and are taught in the fields or in farmers’ homes,” said Ertie. “In good weather, we gather in the village square and listen to lectures while enjoying the sunshine.”

The night school operates once or twice a month, with lecturers coming from a variety of professionals. Officials are invited to talk about topics including policies and laws, and agricultural experts lecture on animal husbandry and farming techniques. The local government ensures it makes good use of all available resources to enrich the knowledge of the farmers.

For example, during early May, the prime time for epidemic prevention for livestock and poultry, the night school moves its classroom to sheep pens and invite experts from the county’s agriculture and animal husbandry bureau to share vaccination methods and other important information.

Besides, each year during the Torch Festival and the Yi New Year, when migrant farmers return home from the cities, training on policies such as labor arbitration and work security will be arranged to help them better safeguard their lawful rights and interests. Training on welding, excavator operating, and cooking are also arranged according to the requirements of villagers.

According to agricultural technician Lama Wusha, the biggest change for the villagers is that they now believe in science.

“The villagers did not believe in vaccines before, so in class we have repeatedly emphasized the importance of vaccinations in lowering animal death rates. Now all the livestock in our village are vaccinated,” said Wusha. “In addition, we also emphasize the importance of keeping livestock pens clean to reduce the incidents of chronic diseases or bacterial infection.”

Farmer Adi Aqie said that in the past, he did not believe in vaccines and his cows and sheep would die of diseases every year. However, since attending lectures about vaccines and getting his animals vaccinated, they now seldom get sick. He is now earnest about going to the night school, and is determined to acquire more knowledge about how to become a modern farmer.

_______________

WEN QING is a reporter with Beijing Review.