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Once-shining school for orphans on the edge
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TWELVE years ago, the Datong Hope School in northern China’s Shanxi Province was a gleaming beacon of hope, boasting an enrollment of 1,818 students at the country’s first enterprise-run school for orphans and the poverty-stricken.
But the end of a big economic run for coal and China’s improving public education have combined to push the school to the brink of extinction. Only 42 students from 8th and 9th grades remain at the Datong school and, for the first time since it was founded in 1993, new admissions for this year totaled zero.
Datong Coal Briquette Factory built the school 21 years ago. The campus of 30,000 square meters had a teaching building with science and computer labs, multimedia classrooms, a dining hall, residential hall, library, indoor swimming pool and activity rooms for music and dance.
These investments cost the factory tens of millions of yuan, and the amenities could match schools in cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
In 2002 when the school was at its peak, a total of 1,818 primary school, middle school and high school students were enrolled. Included were 802 orphans and 1,000 from families with financial difficulties.
Tuition, room and board were all free, as was healthcare, and the school enrolled students from 30 provinces, cities and regions. Among the first class of 379 high school graduates in 2000, 90 were admitted to universities, including elite institutions such as Wuhan University.
According to Luo Daguang, vice principal of the school, now that the factory is seeing a downturn in profits and the coal industry in general is no longer booming, the school can’t offer as much, and that has resulted in the loss of enrollment.
Also contributing is that the government is giving more help to orphans. With the new policies, more students are going to schools close to their homes.
The coal company continues to spend money for charity. But it seems difficult to attract students and bring a renaissance to the 4-story school, which is vacant except for two rooms on the first floor.
The downturn started in 2008, and in 2012 the high school division closed. More than 80 teachers left for other schools. Because of its financial situation, the Datong school can no longer offer services like a free swimming pool, haircuts and seamstress services to students.
Zhang Hongtu, 74, was the manager of the factory 20 years ago and is the man behind the building of the school. At that time, it was the only school in China dedicated to helping orphans. It covered all expenses and was open to students nationwide.
In a recent interview with The Paper, Zhang, who left 12 years ago and
came back for the 21st anniversary reunion, expressed his wish to return and make the school better.
Zhang left under an ethical cloud, suspended when he was under suspicion of embezzling money. The case was dropped by the procuratorate for lack of evidence and an agreement was signed with him to stop appealing.
But he wasn’t able to go back to the school when the case ended.
“It wasn’t resolved, no one was overseeing this. But if they claimed I had no financial problems, why not reinstate me and let me go back to the school?” Zhang said.
Zhang founded the school because he saw how difficult life was for poor children. The factory was doing very well and had the resources to build and equip the school.
“At that time our company was making good profits and we weren’t short of money, so when the school was built, it had the best facilities in Datong,” he recalled.
In the 1990s, the school had four pianos, a student band and even a bakery to make bread for the students’ breakfast. Everything was free, and the faculty and staff enjoyed good benefits.
“I know it’s different now and our country has better policies, more help for orphans and poor. The children have more choices,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean the country can do everything, I think we still need effort from the society.”
Zhang doesn’t know if he will ever get the chance to go back and manage the school, but he would like to try.
“If there’s a day like this, I would do my best to bring the school back,” he said. “I’ve been away for many years, but my influence is still there, and if I dedicate my heart to doing this, there will be success.”
The problems faced by the school are not just financial but also involve the overall quality of education. Xiong Bingqi, vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute and an expert in education, told the Oriental Morning Post that schools cannot maintain just on education basics. “Having some unique features is crucial,” he said.
“Even for charity schools, it doesn’t mean one should rest easy after investing money, building the school and admitting students,” he said. “You can’t keep it on a low-end level.”
“For us, as we have invested massively, we don’t want to and won’t give up, so the only thing we can do now is to continue running the school efficiently in our power,” said Luo, the vice principal.
The factory and school have a goal to enroll 50 to 100 students with the help of Project Hope offices in different places, and in three years to achieve a student body of 300. That would be well within the company’s ability to provide for the students and bring back the school.
“This is what we can do, but we can’t rule out the worst scenario — that
is one day the school really can’t continue to open, something we don’t want to see,” Luo said.
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