The United Nations Children's Fund and its donors went to Caoyang Primary School in Xihe County, Gansu, and attended a ceremony held to welcome children back from the recent Chinese New Year holidays and celebrate the post-earthquake restoration of quality education.
Following the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, UNICEF has provided 250 students of Caoyang Primary School and their teachers with pre-fabricated classrooms, teaching and learning materials, library books, and sports equipment. Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, UNICEF Representative to China, said that she is pleased to see the happy faces of the children of Caoyang Primary School and wants the children to known that Xihe County will recover from the earthquake. Yin reiterated UNICEF's support and commitment to the school and its children.
The May 2008 earthquake damaged more than 6,500 schools in Gansu, including Caoyang Primary School and all of the other 300 schools in Xihe County. Like many schools in the remote areas of Gansu, Caoyang Primary School was not included in the local government's reconstruction plan, so the students had to study in tents for a long time after the earthquake. In October 2008, UNICEF set up six pre-fabricated classroom units at Caoyang Primary School, allowing the children to continue their study in a safe space.
UNICEF says that it will continue to provide support to students in Xihe County in the coming years and will help them to move from the pre-fabricated classrooms to the new school buildings. It says that it will assist Chinese government in earthquake recovery and rehabilitation until 2011.
