ACT Education Solutions, GAC Center Help Impoverished Students in China

What started as a drought relief project in the southwestern region of China has evolved into a charity to help students realize their academic dreams.

ACT Education Solutions, Limited (AES), which offers the Global Assessment Certificate™ (GAC) university preparation program, has teamed up with a GAC center in Yunnan Province on humanitarian efforts for the region’s impoverished children and their families.

Last year’s nine-month drought in the province decreased crop yields, wiped out grain reserves, and left millions of people and farm animals short of water. Students, teachers, and staff at the Kunming Foreign Language School’s GAC Center collected money and supplies for people affected by the drought.

Once the AES office in Shanghai learned of the school’s efforts, staff got all of China’s 60 GAC Centers involved in the project and matched their monetary contributions.

Students, teachers, and staff from the Kunming Foreign Language School GAC Center unload water and food in Xiajianshan Village.

A group from the Kunming GAC Center, along with others, then delivered water and supplies to the residents of Xiajianshan Village, the most drought-stricken community in the province’s Mile County. They traveled about five hours from Kunming, which is the capital of Yunnan Province, to the village.

Students line the streets of Xiajianshan Village to await the arrival of water and supplies.

The group has since returned to the county several times to deliver supplies and plans to make more visits. In addition, Kunming GAC Center officials are waiving GAC tuition fees and providing food, housing, and school supplies to students from economically disadvantaged areas who attend the Kunming School.

AES is also waiving the fees the GAC center would normally pay and is helping poor students obtain funding to attend U.S. colleges and universities. The organization is encouraging all GAC Centers to support orphanages, schools, and hospitals in their areas.

“Our goal is to help bright students who have a love of learning pursue their dreams of obtaining a high-quality college education in the United States,” said Andrew Todd, AES country manager for China. “Every child should have that opportunity.”

Yongli Zhang, the Mile County representative from the National People’s Congress, said that the humanitarian activities of the Kunming GAC Center and AES have changed life in the county.

“Farming families have become inspired to save money to send their children to high school and college. Traditionally, these children leave school at 15 to farm and to start families. Meeting the Kunming teachers and students has changed their outlook and given them a new ambition.”