On June 19, 2023, a delegation led by President Li Fan of Shenzhen University Rural Revitalization Research Institute (RRRI) visited the Meixian District of Meizhou City to carry out research on basic education. They went to Guangdong Meixian Foreign Language School on the spot to look into the bottlenecks of talent cultivation and basic education during rural revitalization and development confronted by underdeveloped areas of Guangdong. The delegation was warmly received by Chen Chunni, Deputy Head of Meixian District, Zhang Yunlong, Secretary of the Party Members Group of the District Education Bureau and Director of the Education Bureau, Chen Yongzheng, Director of the Meixian District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Wen Yuannian, Secretary of the Party Committee of Guangdong Meixian Foreign Language School, and other leaders. Accompanying the visit were Luo Yifeng, Assistant Prof. of CCSEZR, Liu Haolan, Secretary for the graduate work of CCSEZR, and Wen Qixian, an undergraduate student of the class of 2020 in the micro major of "Economics and Data Science".
Deputy Head Chen Chunni (4th from the left), Director Zhang Yunlong (1st from the left), Director Chen Yongzheng (1st from the right)
As the capital of Hakkas in the world, Meizhou City and Meixian District are famous for their faith in culture and education. Meizhou is now making every effort to build the former central Soviet region of Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong’s Docking and Integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to Accelerate the Revitalization and Development. Talent is the first resource to support the revitalization and high-quality development. To promote the construction of the Rongwan Pilot Zone of the Soviet District, there is an urgent need to cultivate a large number of high-quality talents who have both integrity and professional competence. In order to deeply implement the deployment of "strengthen the building of the rural talent pool, launching rural revitalization talent support plan, and cultivating talent urgently needed in local" in "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2023", RRRI and CCSEZR jointly set up a research team, organize special research on talent cultivation and utilization for rural revitalization and basic education development among underdeveloped municipalities, counties, districts or townships.
On the morning, the delegation had a discussion with Meixian District Government. Deputy Head Chen Chunni warmly welcomed the RRRI’s visit and presided over the meeting.
Zhang Yunlong, Director of the Education Bureau, introduced the development of basic education in Meixian District. Yang Daliang, Deputy Director of the Meixian District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, explained the situation of rural revitalization and talent revitalization in Meixian District. Relevant leaders and responsible comrades from the District Organization Department, District Ministry of Civil Affairs and Human Resources and Social Security Bureau attended the meeting and exchanged thoughts. President Li Fan shared the relevant information about SZU, CCSEZR and RRRI. Both sides had an inclusive exchange on Meixian District’s primary and secondary school characteristics, subject research direction, basic education and difficulties during talent revitalization.
On the afternoon, President Li Fan and his delegation visited Guangdong Meixian Foreign Language School for field research and attended the meeting. Integrating kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, Guangdong Meixian Foreign Language School is a modern public foreign language school. It was built to implement the work deployment of the Meizhou Municipal Committee and Meizhou Government, expand the new town for a high-level city, and build the brands of Ye Shuai and the cultural township. During the research, President Li Fan and his delegation visited the Student Counseling Center of the school. Director Zhang Yunlong and Secretary Wen Yuannian invited mental health teacher Guo Danhong to introduce various types of psychotherapy rooms and explained the situation of and solutions to mental problems of primary and secondary school student groups, including sand table deduction and other means of intervention.
Visiting the psychotherapy rooms
Visiting sand table room
Students’ paintings in the group therapy room
After the visit, President Li Fan and his delegation had a discussion with Director Zhang Yunlong, relevant leaders and persons in charge of the District Education Bureau, leaders and teacher representatives of Guangdong Meixian Foreign Language School. Wen Ronghua, Deputy Director of the District Center for Teaching and Learning Development, introduced the initiatives taken for teachers' high-quality development, high-quality resource allocation and teacher growth platform construction. Secretary Wen Yuannian introduced the basic situation of Guangdong Meixian Foreign Language School and its "Three Strategies" for promoting high-quality development of education. Chen Xue, Director of Teach For China, introduced the program’s background and its implementation in the Meixian District. Then the two sides exchanged views on home-school integration, the new college entrance examination reform, teacher training and other issues of concern.
The research conducted by President Li Fan of RRRI has laid a great foundation for future cooperation. RRRI will pool strengths and adapt measures to the local conditions of Meixian District, exploring the way to enhance basic education in less developed areas in the process of rural revitalization, and the path of building a rural practical talent cultivation system, to make contributions to talent revitalization in rural areas.
