26th November 2009, Beijing – Today Samsung Air Life Insurance and Save the Children jointly launched the “Ray of Hope” initiative as part of Beijing Migrant Children’s Health Education Project. The aim of “Ray of Hope” is to improve health education in four of Beijing’s schools for migrant children and promote the children’s healthy development.

The launch was attended by over 80 people including Save the Children Director of Programmes in China, Zhao Zhonghua, Samsung Air Life Insurance Director, Shen Zaihu, staff from both sides as well as migrant school principals, teachers and students.

Samsung and Save the Children signed a “Beijing Migrant Schools Health Memorandum of Understanding” which outlined Samsung’s commitment to give Save the Children 700,000RMB each year for development programmes in four migrant schools in Shijingshan and Haidian Districts. The funding is to be used for health education, improving the school’s health facilities, annual medical check-ups and holding a series of volunteer-run lectures on life skills. 4000 migrant children and 200 teachers are expected to benefit from this project. 

It is estimated that the number of migrant children living in Beijing reached 500,000 in 2007, with around 30% of children enrolled in schools exclusively run for migrant children. About one dozen migrant schools in Beijing have over 1000 students but students in most schools number around 300-500. As the majority of migrant schools are located in the outskirts of the city, they tend to be resource poor and lack adequate teaching facilities and qualified teachers. In comparison to state-run primary schools, the standard of education is in general much lower, and the schools struggle to offer the students a proper education and healthy learning environment.

To help improve the quality of education for primary school-age migrant children, Save the Children China Programme set up the “Beijing Migrant Children’s Education Programme” in 2009. The programme hopes that by offering training courses to school principals and teachers, improving schools’ resources and holding activities for parents and children it can make headway in the attainment of a fair and proper education for migrant children and increase the whole society’s awareness and concern towards migrant children’s education.

“Ray of Hope” is the first joint-project between Save the Children and Samsung Air China Insurance. Both sides hope that through the Beijing Migrant Children’s Health Education Programme they can improve the health conditions and health education in migrant schools and bring about a lasting change in the lives of the city’s migrant children.

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