Adopt a Rural School Library (ARSL)

Project Objectives

Beneficiaries

Funding

How to Set up an ARSL

Background and Project Development

Numbers of ARSL Schools

Distribution of ARSL Schools

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Project Objectives

Reading and writing are basic skills in life. To improve the quality of life in the rural areas in China over the longer term, the rural population must learn to read and write. The ARSL Project aims to provide books and other reading material to rural schools in China to help them set up school libraries. The objectives are to help rural children improve their reading and writing skills, help teachers update their knowledge and pedagogy, and help local communities acquire information useful in their daily lives.

Beneficiaries

Millions of students, teachers and rural residents have benefited from the books and reading material made available through the project. From the feedback information received from the ARSL schools, we see how much the books have meant to the students and teachers in the schools, as well as the local communities.

Funding

A contribution of US$600 supports one ARSL. 85% of contributions are used for the purchase of books, 5% for essay contests and teachers training workshops and conferences, and 10% for administrative expenses in the US and China.

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How to Set Up an ARSL

 

• ESS provincial representatives work with local institutions and communities to identify schools that meet ESS selection criteria, help the schools through the process of application, guide them in the selection and purchase of suitable locally published books, and ensure the proper distribution of ESS allocated funds. Agreements with ESS were signed by the schools, the local education bureau and ESS provincial repesentatives.
• ARSL schools stamp the sponsor's name on each book, catalog the books and put them on library shelves which are regularly open to students, teachers and local residents.
• After a year's operation, the ARSL schools provide feedback information via ESS to the sponsor, including receipts and lists of books purchased, thank you letters, book reports and photographs of the opening and use of the library.

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Background and Development of the ARSL Project

In the 1980s, books and other reading material were hardly available in most rural areas. Rural schools were poorly equipped. Many rural students did not have basic textbooks, not to mention other books for supplementary reading. Rural teachers lacked teaching and reference materials. People who lived in the rural areas had little access to information such as agricultural methods of cultivation and processing that could help them increase their income. They also lacked knowledge about hygiene that would improve their health and the quality of their daily lives. In view of this situation, ESS started two projects in the late 1980s to provide library books to rural schools and public libraries in China. One of these projects is Adopt a Rural School Library (ARSL).

With a little over US$2,000 in 1989, ESS purchased more than a thousand books for four rural primary schools in Hunan and Yunnan Provinces. That was the beginning of the ARSL Project. Since then, the number of ARSLs has grown steadily as many sponsors made generous contributions to the project. By the end of 2014, there were altogether 5,720 ARSLs across the country, mostly in poor villages in the remote and mountainous regions.

Over the years, as many of the ARSL books became worn or damaged, ESS began a second round of sponsorship for ARSL schools that had effectively used the library books.

Even though overall resources for education have increased in China in recent years, ESS finds that many schools located in poor rural areas are still in need of support. The ARSL project continues to provide books to schools that meet ESS selection criteria. ESS also reviews and updates the book lists to make sure that the schools are being provided with good quality books that meet their needs.

Please click these links to view the data on the numbers of ARSL schools by year, and the geographical distribution of ARSL schools in the rural areas in China.

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