Education fund for girls in China

One of 400 girls in Gansu benefiting from the Cambridge Education Foundation fund

Education fund for girls in China

Four hundred poor, minority girls from some of the remotest rural communities in western China’s Gansu province are benefiting from a dedicated education fund created by our not-for-profit arm Cambridge Education Foundation.

The plight of primary school aged girls from minority ethnic groups – of which there are 56 in China – has been highlighted through our work on the Gansu Basic Education Project (GBEP) which involves giving poor communities in the province a say in developing their schools and modernising teaching methods. “Many of these young girls do not receive schooling or are forced to drop out of education early because of poverty, lack of parental support or the cultural preference for giving education priority to boys,” explains Andy Brock of Cambridge Education. Andy is leading the consultancy team helping Gansu Provincial Education Department implement the six-year £14 million project funded by the UK’s Department for International Development.

“Scholarships awarded by the fund will help ensure that 400 very poor, minority girls in Gansu will complete a full six years of primary education,” says Andy, named Individual Consultant of the Year 2003 by the British Consultants and Construction Bureau for his role on the Gansu project. “By the project’s mid-term, enrolment of minority girls had increased by almost 20% – a huge rise.”

“Part of the fund will be used to run a study following some of the girls as they progress through school to give policy-makers and practitioners a deeper understanding of their situation. International research shows that educating girls in turn improves the health and length of schooling of their own children, so our initiative aims to benefit not only the girls themselves but also their families.”