Click here to visit the site of the Rural China Education Foundation
In 2004, I founded the Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF) together with Diane Geng and Sara Lam.
By now it has a 100K+ budget, four year-round programs on the ground
in China, affiliations with 3 experimental schools, 7 paid staff in China (4 full-time, 3 part-time), and about 100 volunteers in 9 countries.
70% of China's children are from rural areas. RCEF works to improve the quality of education in rural China in a non-traditional way. Given the current needs of rural areas, regular education often lacks in relevance and effectiveness. We focus not on test preparation, but on bringing teaching goals, contents, and methods into the classroom that foster children's problem-solving skills, creativity, social participation, and self-esteem. Moreover, we try to relate education to rural communities and the challenges they face.
For example, in a computer class, RCEF teachers would not just teach how to use Word, but let students make a village newspaper. This also involves community awareness, interviewing, writing, creating artwork, editing, and management. We believe that the skills and attitudes acquired through classes like this will help students to deal with problems in life and also enable them to contribute to the development of their communities.
Current programs include teacher professional development, extracurricular education, a resource platform for rural teachers, libraries and reading, and microgrants for Chinese organizations. Here are some examples of our classes and programs:
Donations can be made through this page and will go entirely to our programs. Donations are tax-deductible in the United States.
Click here to visit the site of the Rural China Education Foundation