Wuyuan County Provides Enables Students' Success with Digital Technology

China Education Daily recently reported on the promising digital transformation initiative in Wuyuan, Jiangxi province, and its impact on making high-quality education more accessible in the rural area.

Wuyuan's mountainous topography has posed challenges to providing high-quality educational resources to its schools. Recently, Wuyuan has made efforts to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural education and work toward balanced academic development.

During this year's summer vacation, the Wuyuan County Education and Sports Bureau introduced a series of measures to meet students' summer learning needs better and nurture their interests in science and technology.

The Wuyuan County Quality Education School (Youth Activity Center) and the "Youth Silicon Valley" Maker Center offer engaging sci-tech courses that focus on providing students with hands-on experience in science. For example, over 200 primary and secondary school students signed up for the 3D printing course within just two weeks of its opening.

The science and technology summer course teachers are from the Maker Education Master Studio in Wuyuan County and the Maker Classroom in central China, "Youth Silicon Valley." Through seamless collaboration between the Youth Activity Centre and schools at all levels, staff of the venues, and professional teachers, Wuyuan County has established a new model of inclusive maker education that highlights resource distribution, close cooperation, and mutual support.

To address the mental and emotional health of children in the region, Wuyuan launched an intelligent mental health education program this year, providing resources and assistance to students for their well-being. Wuyuan also introduced an intelligent county-wide psychological education system that allows students, accompanied by their parents, to perform a mental health prevention assessment. Through the evaluation, parents and students can identify possible psychological issues, better understand their mental state, and communicate more effectively. This system also seeks to improve the quality of parent-child interaction.

The psychological education system can further be used to find counseling resources for rural children and parents. Furthermore, this system, in of itself, provides daily teaching and counseling.

In Wuyuan County, Smart Reading, an integrated language teaching platform, has gained popularity. The Education and Sports Bureau recently launched the platform to provide a series of characteristic learning activities, including "Text Reading," "Ancient Poems Recitation," and "Classic Literature Recitation." Students in Wuyuan can access the cloud platform through its WeChat mini program.

In addition to offering various reading activities, Wuyuan introduced a county-wide "online sports coach." The physical training program encourages students to exercise daily and learn to work out independently through specific requirements and tailored guidance.