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The Library Project makes commitment to improve their first school district in China The Library Project is very excited to announce that they have made a commitment to improve every elementary school’s library in the Ba Qiao School District, located in the countryside just outside of Xi’an, China. The Library Project will be donating thousands of Chinese language children’s books, hundreds of tables and chairs, plants, globes, children’s dictionaries, and providing librarian training that will substantially improve the education children will receive at each school. The Ba Qiao School District is located just outside of Xi'an, China and is made up of nine smaller districts. Each district has on average eleven elementary schools for a total of about 100 schools. The Library Project will only work with elementary schools that have been classified as a Focus School. A Focus School is a school that will be experiencing an increase in attendance because of school closures in the area. Of the 100 elementary schools in the Ba Qiao School District, 77 schools will be closed in the next five years, consolidating the education system to 20 Focus Schools. Because of these closures, it is estimated that attendance will double at each school. To accommodate for this jump in student numbers, schools are using their available funds to provide additional classrooms and dormitories for the children that live far from the school. School administration is not able to use their available funding to improve the education at their school because the student numbers are rising.
The Ba Qiao District was hit hard by layoffs due to the privatization of factories over the past twenty years. This privatization of factories caused millions of workers to lose their jobs in the ShaanXi Province alone. Today, the average annual income in the Ba Qiao District is just 2,000 RMB ($266 USD). Recently there has been a trend in China to repurpose closed countryside factories as universities and trade schools. This may benefit the Ba Qiao District in the future because laid off workers will be able to open small shops and sell goods to the students attending the universities and trade schools.
Our goal is to provide libraries to all of the Focus Schools in the Ba Qiao School District. This will be a massive undertaking, and will create the kind of impact that The Library Project is looking to make in a community’s education system. We have provided libraries to the first three schools, but we are looking for additional funding to complete our goal. GENERAL INFORMATION EDUCATION INFORMATION --- ABOUT THE LIBRARY PROJECT The Library Project donates books and libraries to under financed schools and orphanages in China. They believe education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty that exists in the developing world. As they see it, education is change. The Library Project accomplishes this by; getting the local community involved through book drives and awareness raising, providing libraries to underfinanced orphanages and elementary schools, and partnering with local NGOs (charities) and companies. The Library Project has some amazing yet attainable goals: by the end of 2008 they will have donated over 80 libraries to orphanages and countryside elementary schools in China. The number of libraries will more than double by the end of 2009. Projecting further into the future, they hope to provide 350 libraries by the end of 2010. Their goal is to develop The Library Project into an organization that helps empower millions of children every year through the gift of education. This goal will take an enormous amount of dedication, planning, and hard work. They need your help. To get involved, please check out their website at www.library-project.org. If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Stader, The Library Project's Founder, at: tom@library-project.org. |
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