COVID-19 has impacted lives worldwide. Since 2020, volunteers at the Boai Foundation have been unable to continue their annual in-school medical services and other voluntary work at the Boai School in Fengcun, Shanxi Province. They can only continue to participate in fundraising to support the school's daily operations and renovation projects.
Furthermore, in 2022, the Chinese government changed its education policy, no longer allowing privately-run primary and secondary schools (including charitable schools) to operate. All privately-run primary and secondary schools were converted into national schools. As a result, the Boai School was taken over by the government in 2023 and renamed Fengcun Primary School. After negotiations, the local government paid RMB 12 million to the Boai School as compensation for the school buildings and facilities. As the construction costs of the Boai School were largely raised by the Boai Foundation from the community, the Boai Foundation actively participated in how these funds were used.
Of this amount, RMB 6 million was used to pay severance and compensation to the faculty and staff of the Boai School, in gratitude for their years of hard work and contribution to the Boai School. Another RMB 700,000 was used to print the "Boai Chronicle," which was distributed to benefactors and employees who supported the Boai Foundation, as a memento. An additional RMB 5 million was donated to the China Friendship and Peace Development Foundation to support Professor Zhang Haixia of Peking University's first-generation college student assistance program, "Tomorrow I Can," benefiting students in Shanxi Province and throughout China.
Based in Hong Kong and oriented towards China, the Boai Foundation will continue to care for and provide support to those in need in China and Hong Kong, including allocating resources to help elderly individuals with "cognitive impairment" and organizing various medical services. We welcome participation and support from all sectors of society.
The school has a building area of 5,000 square meters and currently has more than 300 primary school students, all from more than a dozen nearby poor farming families. There are currently twenty-seven teachers employed, recruited from various places, all of whom have undergone professional teacher training; in addition, there are six life teachers who take care of young children.
As the local land is very barren, resources are scarce, and farmers' lives are difficult, all students are tuition-free. In addition, all students board at the school, not only to alleviate the suffering of students going to and from school in the severe winter, but also to allow students to experience the attitude of treating people with love in their daily lives through group living.
In just a few years since the school was founded, with the joint efforts of teachers and students, it has been upgraded to a "Red Flag School" and become a famous local school.
Message from Boai Foundation Chairman
Dr. Lau Wai Sum
