Living in a remote, rural, and mountainous Western China, has many wonderful features – beautiful scenery, wide open spaces, star studded nights and usually, close family connections. Unfortunately, it also has lots of limitations. If you’re a girl from a poor rural family, there’s a good chance you will never finish senior high school.

So, what are the key reasons young scholars are still missing out on senior high school?

• In China, education is tuition free up to Grade 9. In some places now, even senior High School is tuition free thanks to incredibly progressive schooling policy by the government. Still, total education cost (including boarding, transport, living costs) can be too expensive for some rural poor families. The return on investment needs to be certain – and some families quickly conclude it is not;
• Opportunity cost factors add to the cost of education. If the girl was not in school, she would be earning money, or laboring on the farm at home allowing parents to work in the city;
• Parents might be sick or caring for aging grandparents – the girl is an easy choice for caring for them;
• Some girls don’t want to continue their education. The pressure and stress felt by girls who feel the weight of the cost of their education on their poor parents prefer to quit (they believe this is what their parents hope they will do, but their parents are too nice to say);
• Finally, for some, they do not believe they are doing well enough in school to warrant continuing. This is a combination of factors ranging from quality of the teachers to no positive mentors in their liveves motivating them to keep progressing in their studies. “If they can’t do well”, they reason, “what’s the point.”

All of these factors combine to increase significantly the prospects of a girl never getting to realize her dream of being an educated woman and of having her dream job in the future. As covered on our Educate Girls page, we know that an educated woman will be of considerable value not just to herself, but also her family, community, and the next generation. In fact, research would suggest she is a better investment than educating her brother.

For every girl, just ONE MORE YEAR of education can make all the difference. And, we know that just ONE MORE YEAR increases significantly the prospects of another year to follow, and another. Further education exponentially increases her prospects of living a more progressive and rewarding life.

“My name is Chitsokyid. With the help of Captivating, I returned to school in September 2017. Six semesters passed very quickly. I chose to study preschool education because I have always wanted to help children learn as much as they can. I have had the opportunity to complete my education. and I’m very gratful.”

“I started my internship in a Kindergarten in December 2019. During the internship, I taught some subjects including Art and Social Health courses. I prepared a lot of teaching aids to make my class easier and effective, and help children better understand the course content. During my internship, I took part in school activities and won prizes. What makes me happy is not that I have won prizes, but that I have been recognized by my colleagues. In the process of internship, I learned a lot of knowledge and gained a lot of experience. I see hope in these children and learn from my fellow teachers. I enjoy this profession and I like the kindergarten that I am now working in.”

Because Chitsokyid is the only daughter in a family who was struggling financially, she was the one who had to drop school during middle school.

Through this program, Chitsokyid learned an employable skill. She has now graduated and transitioned into the workforce as a confident young woman who will continue improving herself and contributing to nurturing young lives as a teacher.