Concerning the guidelines on management of the education aid.

Related information that must be provided for contributions to school construction

To improve the education conditions for a small number of villagers in a poverty-stricken district, and to bring them the latest education news and culture, to gradually improve the hygiene conditions, to renovate the old school structure, and to erect a new school building. At the same time, to proceed with teacher training, and to attract education of native knowledge and education of farming skills to the farming school, a prior investigation is essential and, therefore we have decided to request the following data to any place requesting help.

Concerning the conditions in the countryside and villages:

• The distance of the village from the county town and its accessibility.
• The distance of the school from the nearest main city.
• The average annual income in the countryside and villages, and the circumstances of the population and villagers.
• The financial situation and main economic activities of the countryside and villages.

• The type of school and student population (separate figures for the male and female sex will be provided).
• The conditions of the schoolchildren receiving education (annual distribution of the sum of school fees, number of children in the school going age, dates for report, and the number and ratio of children without education last year, including the number of girls).
• The standard and the circumstances of the reception of education in the village.
• The population of those poverty-stricken, their constitution and situation.
• The number of teachers, their constitution and the conditions of their income.
• More detailed pictures and written information about the present situation of the school to be provided.

Concerning the guidelines on management of the education aid

Currently, the name lists of students receiving aid in the vast majority of organizations providing education aid are initially provided by schools or the office of the government department providing improvement works. According to our understanding, not a few name lists all have a definite content. Some students are relatives of the people who provide the lists. Some teachers do not really understand the students’ family situations; they include names based on taking their words at face value. If there is no investigation of the family and the actual situation of those on the lists, the consequences include possibly wasting the money of those offering aid, and depriving those poor students who genuinely need help. In order to ensure the fairness of the education aid, we have to come up with comprehensive management guidelines to make sure the project is stable and reliable, and successfully implemented in the long term.

The target of the financial aid (in order of priority)

The targets of our education aid are the ethnic minority students of the Yunnan ethnic minority district. Given the situation of limited enrolment, we will proceed according to the consideration of priorities in the order and conditions given below; under equal conditions, girls will be given priority.

• The orphans or children who have lost one parent in the ethnic minority district.
• Those with a handicapped parent, or who are handicapped themselves.
• Those who have a parent at home who has lost the ability to work because of a long-term illness.
• For those homes with four children who are all school going, aid can be provided for one child.

Management method :

• The work of education aid can be managed under public scrutiny. Policies about the funds should be decided by a committee that includes our contact person, teacher and village representative (committee head). The initial selection of students to be given aid should be done by this type of committee members. The final decision will be made after the financial aid party has done some in-depth verification. By having many parties bearing the responsibility for the items and funds in this way, not only will it reduce the possibility of personal appropriation and corruption, it can also promote the increase of the prestige of the education aid.
• The allocation and conditions of the bursary will be publicized in the school, with the students freely applying and filling up the family situation investigation form. Then the contact person and the representative of the financial aid party will organize a simple meeting with the school teachers, where they will firstly eliminate those applicants who obviously do not meet the conditions.
• For the list of initially selected applicants, the committee will proceed with a detailed interview with the family. During the interview, the words of the students or their parents cannot be taken at face value, they also have to use their own eyes to inspect and record the situation of the interviewed family. Lastly, this data is to be collected and discussed within the inner group of the education aid organization, and the financial aid party will finally confirm the name list for financial aid.
• The school has to fill up every student’s “investigation form for financial aid students” in detail, with signature and stamp.
• A summary is to be made every semester, and the calculations are to be made according to the related data below: financial aid for normal cases, financial aid for suspended studies, financial aid for discontinued studies, cases awaiting arrangement, and cases pending judgment.
• Plans are to be made in advance for the following semester.

Financial management:

• The payment of school fees or miscellaneous fees for every semester will be completely done by using bank or postal remittance; cash transactions are to be strenuously avoided.
• The school fees and miscellaneous fees are to be directly remitted to the school.
• After the school has received the remittance and accepted the school and miscellaneous fees for the list of people receiving aid, and after the financially aided student has received the bursary registration, the student should leave his/her signature and thumbprint on the “investigation form for financial aid students” to ensure that the bursary has arrived.
• For the school, after it has received the bursary, a receipt is to be signed, stamped and posted to the financial aid party.
• The representative of the financial aid party is to promptly report the situation of the use of funds to the board of directors.