Although all children in China have access to free compulsory education services the quality of the teaching and learning varies greatly. In rural area, teachers may lack necessary skills, training opportunities and resources. The Library Project provides these rural and isolated schools with libraries, reading corners and specific literacy training.
David Zhang and Yvonne Gan, part of our Research team in Shanghai, recently represented Euromonitor at the opening of a reading corner in a rural school in the Anhui Province. In the month prior, employees in Shanghai held fundraising events to raise funds for books and equipment needed to set up the corner. Xiao Xiu Elementary School struggles to provide new resources for its pupils and new books will supplement the children's education, helping break the cycle of poverty existing in the more rural areas of the province. The new reading corner has over 500 Chinese language children's books and a full set of encyclopaedias.