“Every poor student may get an opportunity to live a better life after receiving vocational education，” said Zhou Zhu， president of the secondary vocational school in Qianxi County of Bijie City， Guizhou Province. In recent years， the Guizhou provincial government has taken vocational education as a breakthrough method to promote targeted poverty alleviation by strengthening technical skills of students from poor families. The vocational school Zhou works in has set up five departments including information technology， tourism & hotel management， preschool education， medical science， and transportation with altogether up to 12 majors.
Knowledge Matters
A total of 35 students from vehicle maintenance and repair class eolled in 2018 are getting practical training in factories. He Weijun， a teacher at the transportation department， is teaching the basic structure of an engine. “After half a year’s training， all students must be proficient in removing and assem- bling a complete engine manually； otherwise， they can’t pass the examination，” said He.
Zhang Mengxian， just 16-year-old， hails from a small village called Zhafang in Qianxi County. Growing up in an underprivileged family of five， the softspoken boy is introverted and reserved， compared to other youngsters in their adolescence. He told China Today that his biological father died when he was three years old， and since then， he has lived with his stepfather. His elder brother is an automobile repair technician， earning a livelihood in Guiyang， the capital city of Guizhou Province. Zhang chose to follow in his brother’s footsteps， hoping to earn more money to reduce the burden on the family.
In the secondary vocational school， Zhang receives education in some fundamental curricula such as Chinese， mathematics， English， but also has to complete both theoretical and practical courses on vehicle repair. “Everyone has a chance to perform specific tasks in the practical classes to improve our practical abilities， a necessary skill for our future employment，” Zhang said.
The students are eager to be skillful at work so as to escape from the poverty trap， which is the dream of many students like Zhang， as they know that only by obtaining an education and training can their fates be changed. Another student in the class， Zhao Xiaochao， had to drop out of school without financial support from his family， but doing temporary and odd jobs could not earn him enough money. He considered returning to school to pursue an education to meet the qualification requirements on the job market.