Junior High School and Senior High School

Together with Amity Foundation, the Pfrang Association has identified and contacted a range of schools in Lianshui, a poor country in northern Jiangsu Province.                                                                                               In the past we sponsored the fees necessary for all of them to finish the 9-year compulsory school education. The full costs amounted to CNY 3,300 for the whole 9 years.

Now, due to a new policy of the Chinese government the adjusting of our sponsoring program to the new regulations has become inevitable. The new policy will eliminate all tuition on rural students for the 9-year-compulsory school education and will put into place a centralized school system. This centralization will require a number of students to travel long distances and to board at the school from Monday until Friday. This results in greater costs for the families: the annual costs for one year junior high school amount to 2318 RMB including books (318 RMB), boarding fee (400 RMB) and food (1600 RMB). The summarized costs for 3 years junior high school reach 6954 RMB.

A lot of families can’t afford these boarding costs. So we decided that in the future we will focus on the support for junior high school students, who have to board at school during the week, guaranteeing them a full 9-year-education. Junior High School Non-borders will then receive 300 RMB for books and boarders will receive 2000 RMB per year.

We also offer some full scholarships for senior high school students. In China there have to be passed chargeable entry exams for entering senior high school. Furthermore, senior high school is not part of the compulsory education and every family has to pay a tuition fee of 2308 RMB. In addition, there are fees for boarding (480 RMB) and food (1920 RMB), altogether the costs for 3 years amount to 14 124 RMB. The scholarship is open to all students, who perform outstanding in school and need support to finish their education. Pfrang students are given priority.

The  criteria for eligibility are:

- the per capita income of the applicant´s household is below the locally defined poverty line
- neither the parents nor the direct relatives receive regular salaries, or are employed by a government agency or private business.
Amongst the applicants who meet these criteria, priority is given to:
- orphans
- students who are handicapped or who have a direct relative who is handicapped
- students from single parent families
- students from national minorities
- female students

The selection and monitoring of continued eligibility, academic achievements and behavior is carried out by the Pfrang Association in conjunction with Amity Foundation. Random school checks are conducted to monitor academic conditions and limit the potential for financial mismanagement. Further details can be found in our annual report.