Photo: Students participate in the garbage sorting activity at a residential community in Baoshan District of Shanghai, east China.
BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Baoshan, a district located in the north of Shanghai, has launched a program to encourage students undergoing compulsory education to participate in social practice, the Xinhua Daily Telegraph reported recently.
The program initiated jointly by Baoshan Youth League and the Education Bureau of Baoshan District encourages students, especially those who are members of the Chinese Young Pioneers, to take part in the community governance and provide services as volunteers.
It echoes the country's policies to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students undergoing compulsory education. China's nine-year free compulsory education system covers primary school and junior middle school.
Under such circumstances, in the past summer vacation, the young pioneers helped pick up trash and clean up the corridor piles in the communities, visited the elderly people of no family at the age of 90 and above, and listened to stories told by the elderly neighbors who have been CPC members for at least 50 years.
At present, more than 78,000 young pioneers in Baoshan have carried out the program in 487 communities of the district. They helped clear nearly 20,000 piles of garbage, and visited 3,090 elderly people of no family and those living alone, which drove about 110,000 parents to participate in community governance, of which 9,774 parents became main volunteers in the communities.
The program embodies the education theory proposed by Tao Xingzhi, a renowned Chinese educator, who believed that "life is education" and "society is school" to realize the "integration of teaching and doing", and combination of learning and practice.
Tao's educational idea is of significance to the educational reform in the new era, said Chen Jie, Party chief of Baoshan District.
Inspired by Tao's idea, the program allows the students to engage in the community governance, which will enhance their social skills and problem-solving skills, help them learn to care for others, and better promote their growth. (Edited by Hu Pingchao with Xinhua Silk Road, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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