Rural classroom gets new desks as Macheng government reacts to outcry
Local leaders are shamed into providing the youngsters with basic equipment after public anger over badly funded system
Hubei teacher Zhong Fuhai was stunned recently when new desks and benches were delivered to his shabby, one-classroom school in Macheng's Shunhe township.
Zhong, the only teacher at the Nangang School, said its dozen or so pupils had been using desks and benches brought to the school by their parents for years because local schools were not given a budget for such things.
"It's always been a dream for parents to see their children sit behind suitable desks at school."
The local government's hasty delivery of new, adjustable desk sets to several rural schools in Shunhe came after mainland media reported that up to 3,000 pupils in the impoverished region began the new semester on September 1 with their own desks and benches.
A photo of one local grandmother escorting her grandson to school while carrying a roughly made desk on her shoulders, and another of a pupil sitting on a stool and using a TV stand as a desk, triggered a public outcry over the sorry state of rural education in a country that has long trumpeted its economic rise.
An initial sense of disbelief, shared by many, quickly developed into widespread anger targeting the local education authorities and Macheng's city government for their failure to provide basic school facilities.