江苏留学网

The brand new teaching building at Muchang Primary School in remote Guizhou province gains support from a voluntary team at Yangzhou University, Jiangsu province. [Photo/yznews.com.cn]

With the first teaching building completed at the Muchang Primary School, a rural school in the Miao ethnic group area of remote Guizhou province, volunteers from Yangzhou University (YZU) in Jiangsu province have turned years of efforts into pragmatic results. 

Back to 2013, even Wang Haoyi, founder of the YZU voluntary team, couldn't have imagined that one day his efforts would help bring modern and advanced teaching facilities to the shabby mountainous school. 

Wang's team, nicknamed "Oxford" for their habit of using oxford bags to carry supplies during their earlier days, has seen its members grow from 12 to 200, enabling them to offer supplies worth over 1 million yuan ($144,703) to some 3,000 people across the country. 

Wang and his members said they've received generous help with their studies and they wish to share this accommodating spirit with more people. 

Muchang School has gripped the volunteers' hearts since their first visit in March 2014. To begin with, little progress was achieved though the school won public attention from enterprises, universities and non-profit organizations.

A student volunteer from Yangzhou University in Jiangsu province rides a horse in Guizhou province to operate his laboratory and share science knowledge. [Photo/yznews.com.cn]

The team figured out that efforts from the public should be made in a concerted way so as to create more development possibilities for the rural school. 

In September 2014, the first voluntary program targeting Muchang School was set up at YZU and Wang's team geared up to develop the voluntary circle combining joint endeavors from universities, enterprises and the local government. 

"We've heard many public voices willing to share their love and care, but not able to put it into practice for realistic reasons. Our university is full of well-educated students eager to devote themselves, so the two sides can work together to create the best possible results," said Wang Jianjun, an official at YZU. 

By now, aside from Muchang Primary School, the platform has teamed up with Jiangsu, Anhui and Guizhou governments, local enterprises and non-profit organizations, and offered educational, scientific, agricultural and medical support to these areas. The team also carried out voluntary guidance for enthusiastic individuals.

Volunteers play with pupils at the Muchang Primary School in mountainous Guizhou province. [Photo/yznews.com.cn]