Chen Kun starts his lessons

Film actor Chen Kun was in front of a very unusual audience.

"What animals do you think should be in the zoo?" He asks.

"Stegosaurus!" Exclaims a small boy with his arms neatly folded on his desk.

"What else?" Chen probes. The classroom began to bubble with energy.

"Elephant!" "Bull!" The answers are shouted.

Chen Kun asks again: "Any other animals?"

"Stegosaurus!" The small boy shouts again, much louder. Everyone in the classroom burst into laughter.

This exchange recently took place in a crowded classroom in a very remote corner of Southwestern China. Chen Kun, UNICEF's newest Ambassador for China, was drawing a picture of a zoo on the chalk board in a place where not a single child had ever seen a zoo.

The mission to Nayong County, Guizhou Province was Chen Kun's first visit to one of UNICEF programmes for vulnerable children in remote rural communities. He was accompanied by Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF's Representative to China,and a team of UNICEF experts. 

In 2011, 50 schools in Nayong, one of China's poorest counties, were included in the latest phase of the Child Friendly School project, a long term joint effort of UNICEF and the Ministry of Education. Chen Kun joined up with the UNICEF education team's most recent planning mission to set up the pilot project there.

The aim is to demonstrate how teaching and learning can be improved in China's most disadvantaged schools. They visited two of the Child Friendly School project sites and three student homes.

Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF's Representative in China accompanied Chen Kun on his visit.

"China has done an excellent job in providing access to school for all its children," said Ms. Mellsop. "We are helping to develop innovative strategies to improve equity and quality of education, especially here in communities like Nayong County where resources and skills are lacking."

"Today the Child Friendly School model has been identified  as a key strategy for achieving equity and quality for all students."

Eager to meet children

Guizhou is a mountainous province home to Karst rock formations that attract tourists from around the world. The trip from Guizhou's capital, Guiyang to Nayong, follows punishing mountain roads for more than seven hours.

"It's my first visit as a UNICEF Ambassador. I'm pretty calm and looking forward to doing practical things in protecting children rights rather than just speaking," Chen Kun tweeted to his Weibo followers the night he arrived at Nayong. 

The next day, though eager to meet children, Chen Kun and the team faced another bumpy two hour mountain drive before the Mabai Primary School of Guo Quanyan Village came into view.

Mabai Primary School is a nine-year compulsory school, with 1,697 students. One classroom is usually shared by an average of 70 learners.  

A warm smile spread across Chen Kun's face as he entered a first grade classroom. More than 80 children sat in rows and looked at Chen with curiosity. Three children shared one desk made to accommodate two students. The classroom was pressed full of eager, happy children.

These children – many of whom have never traveled outside their mountain community – can answer simple math questions very quickly and happily. But it is difficult for them to respond to questions.

"They do need improvements in education!" Chen Kun said when he came out the classroom.

Guo Xiaoping, UNICEF Education Specialist, had the same feeling when she first visited Nayong to introduce the Child Friendly School project. "Looking into those bright and shining eyes for just one time, you can never forget these lovely children in such remote rural areas," she recalls.

"They will be more active after the Child Friendly School project is well established," said Guo. "Child Friendly Schools help children reach their full potential by ensuring inclusiveness, better teaching skills and child-centered strategies.School is for the whole child's development, not just for the mind."

Cooking for themselves

Around a third of the students in Mabai Primary Schools have one or both parents working in faraway cities.  Xiao Mei, a sixth grader, said she didn't know where her father works. "I cannot remember the last time I saw him. I miss him." 

Huang An's parents are not migrant workers, but he and his younger sister Huang Lin only see their parents once a week. Their family lives two hours' walking distance from school. Brother and sister live alone in a rented room nearby. The family pays RMB 400 a year in rent.

Chen Kun visited their basement room. To get into the room the team walked down a set of narrow stairs that doubles as a storage space for firewood.  There were two beds and some simple personal belongings in the room. Nothing else.

"Hi! May I ask how old are you?" said Chen to the boy. "13," he answered softly. "13?" Chen was surprised. The boy looked much shorter and thinner for his age.

"Who cooks?"

"My brother," answered Huang Lin, with a shy smile. The brother stills seemed shy and uncertain.

To help the children relax Chen Kun started to speak in his native Chongqing dialect, which sounds more like the local Guizhou language. "Which one of you likes painting?" The little boy finally smiled. "My sister likes it," he answered.

"Here are some water color paints for you, and also some story books. Hope you like them." Chen Kun brought educational materials as gifts and began to help the brother and sister pair start reading stories.

On this trip, Chen Kun and the UNICEF team learn about "another kind of left behind children."

For some children in this remote district, commuting to school every day would mean leaving home at dawn and walking for hours along a dangerous mountain road before dawn.

The school does not have a dormitory so renting a room close by was one of the best solutions arranged by parents. The children have to cook and fend for themselves.

"I'm looking forward to the Child Friendly School being set up here," said Chen.

For children living in difficult conditions a positive school environment can make a big difference for them. A significant portion of their day is spent in class.  When schools help children learn to cooperate; when they provide a safe, healthy and protective learning environment, they help children in poverty to overcome many of the obstacles they face.

The Child Friendly School model plays this role in communities affected by poverty. It emphasizes inclusion of every boy and girl, creating a happy and safe school environment where children learn how to cope with life situations. It encourages curiosity, questions and problem solving.

Poor living conditions

Chen Kun also visited another student's home where a grandmother, parents and two children live together in a ten square meter room. A few chickens also shared the small dark space.

According to Nayong school teacher Li Yuan "Local people pay a lot of attention to their children's education, but they know very little about how to support their children in school."

One of the goals of the Child Friendly School project is to foster greater involvement of parents living in the nearby communities in the management of the education process. Often parents support efforts to improve sanitation and hygiene in the schools.

In such a mountainous place, children in Nayong have limited access to clean water. Some schools rely on rain water collection for their drinking water supply.

"We will build awareness of the importance of children's hygiene and sanitation habits in this Child Friendly School," said Hao Zhiming, UNICEF Water and Sanitation expert. "An important part of that process has to do with giving students a meaningful role in keeping schools clean and safe."

"Our home town has its own beauty"

Chen Kun also visited the primary school at Xinzhai village with 348 children and 13 teachers. 

When entering a classroom, Chen paused to read aloud a sentence written on the blackboard: "Our hometown will be better tomorrow!" He asked the class: "Can anybody tell me how our hometown will be better?"

"We will build it!" "We need to study hard!" Said the children.

A bright eyed boy added: "Uncle Chen, I have been to Kunming before with my parents, and I hope our hometown will be the same like Kunming."

Chen thought for a while, and replied. "You know, our home town has its own beauty, we need to protect it and contribute to its development. It doesn't need to be the same as any other city. The same way you don't need to be exactly like anyone else.  Understand?"

The children eagerly nodded their heads and said "Yes!"

"I've gained a lot during this trip, being a young father…" Chen reflects at the end of his mission. "I now have a better understanding on how to fulfill my role as a UNICEF ambassador. I believe a better future will be built."