It could be said that attending school is something that children raised in cities don’t ever question. However, in Muping Village (under Tudi’ao Township, Yanhe County in Guangxi Province), there is a group of children who are not so lucky.

Muping Village belongs to one of the poorest township in Yanhe County. Because of local restrictions, the village mayor has to rent out his own premises as temporary classroom space. The fixtures are very rudimentary and the room is poorly lit, which makes for a poor location for students to study. Also, as for the teaching, there is only one teacher, and over 80 students have to crowd into the same ‘classroom’ for lessons.

Because the school site is of such poor quality, not only are qualified teachers unwilling to stay there, but some of the villagers even make other cutbacks in order to send their students to study in Anpo Village, two kilometres away, after finishing primary school. This has driven up the costs of their studies hugely, and there are significant risks associated with trekking long distances to go to school.

In view of this, the IRD received funding from the China Literary Foundation in 2013, and signed an agreement with the Yanhe Education Bureau and Muping Village Committee to construct a new village primary school. After completion, the school will not only benefit neighbouring Chaping Village and the fourth and fifth form groups of Feng’an Village, but will also provide hope that the poor state of education in the region can be turned around.

To guarantee both the safety and correct function of the new school buildings, we have handed responsibility for the school’s design and supervision of the construction over to DOMAT, a Hong Kong-based not-for-profit architecture practice. DOMAT will also carry out consultations with the public, and make amends to the design of the building to fit with their suggestions. They will also ensure that the quality of the construction not only complies with mainland Chinese building standards, but also satisfies standard requirements and expectations of building works in Hong Kong. Architects from DOMAT will also carry out periodic on-site inspections and oversee the project’s progress.

The construction finished in July 2015 and was jointly approved by the Yanhe Design Institue, the superivising company, the village committee and the Education Bureau. The new school building started operating in September 2015, as a result, the students and children nearby can so enjoy a safe and comfotable learning environment. To commemorate the support and kindness of the donor, the school was named as Bernard Fung Memorial Primary School. In Mid-2016, the Fundation further subsidised the purchase of new desks and chairs to improve the quality of teaching.

IRD will take the school as one of the major service point for future organised service. In the meantime, work with the local Education Bureau continuously, in order to secure more teaching resources, so as to provide follow-up support to the teachers and students