Students take a break at Xinhe Primary School. [China Daily]

Mutual benefits

Pasinetti, a US-Italian dual national, founded Teach for China in 2008, basing the organization on the model of Teach for America. Its Chinese name is Meili Zhongguo, meaning "Beautiful China".

Unlike other education assistance programs, Teach for China does not advocate a one-way street, whereby teachers become permanent fixtures in isolated spots. Instead, it emphasizes the mutual benefits the two-year program offers both teachers and students.

Liu Zepeng, director of the Beijing Lead Foundation, an NGO that provides most of the funding for Teach for China, said volunteer teaching programs are not a new phenomenon in China, which has seen the Hope Project and other initiatives, but nearly all of them advocate a lifelong devotion to teaching at the grassroots level.

"The unequal access to quality education is a result of urbanization, therefore it's unfair to expect these young talents to travel to unappealing, isolated villages and teach in them for the rest of their lives," he said.

Before they enter the classroom, each graduate on the Teach for China program undertakes a training course that lasts four to six weeks. The course provides introductions to teaching methods, management skills and local customs, and helps the students to hone their skills through multiple trial lectures. During training they a given a monthly stipend of 2,200 yuan, but once they are in the field, they receive 2,800 yuan a month.

According to Pasinetti, although the financial rewards are low, the graduates benefit greatly from the experience. "Few employers would leave demanding tasks to new employees and let them assume huge responsibility, but in rural primary schools, our graduates are like the CEOs of each class," he said.

He Liu, the teacher, said his experience in Dazhai helped to formulate a pattern of thinking which he has retained: "The teaching process is objective-oriented and requires a clear plan. It molded my thought pattern, which I apply to my everyday tasks."

Sustainability

Statistics supplied by Teach for China show that the graduates become more willing to stay in the education sector as they progress through the two-year program. "Initially, only about 6 or 7 percent say they will stay in education after their placement, but the number rises to 70 percent when they finish the program," Liu said.

According to the NGO, more than 50 percent of its graduate volunteers either stay in the sector after finishing their teaching stints, or they join nonprofit organizations similar to Teach for China.

Now, the Beijing Lead Future Foundation is pushing forward another program called Meili Xiaoxue, or "Beautiful Primary School", to offer opportunities to previous graduate volunteers who want to contribute further.

The schools enlisted in the Meili Xiaoxue program remain under the administration of the local education authorities, but they hand over their management to the foundation and teaching duties to Teach for China.

"Now we have two such schools in place and they are just like two laboratories. What we want to do is to explore a new approach for rural education, which can be copied in other parts of China," Pasinetti said.

Contact the writer at lilei@chinadaily.com.cn