Širom svijeta postoje ljudi koji žive u lošim uvjetima, ali i oni koji pokušavaju promjeniti situaciju na bolje. U studentskom životu postoji mnogo tema na koja se vrijedi osvrnutii, ali kako sam živjela u Kini, chtjela bih podjeliti svoja iskustva i govoriti o studentima iz seoskih područja.

Iako se Kina brzo razvija i već je postigla značajan gospodarski uspjeh, ljudi u određenim dijelovima Kine još uvijek nemaju dostojne životne uvjete kao i uvjete za školovanje. Još uvijek postoji ogroman jaz između istočne i zapadne Kine po pitanju ekonomskog, društvenog, kulturnog i obrazovnog razvoja.

U zapadnoj Kini, posebno u seoskim područjima, škole nemaju dovoljno visokokvalificiranih učitelja i obrazovnih materijala. Većina obitelji ima niske prihode i ne mogu pružiti svojoj djeci brojne mogućnosti. Štoviše, Kina ima ogromno stanovništvo od 1,4 milijardi ljudi. To znači, da postoji velika konkurencija za postizanje što boljeg položaja u društvu.

Najuglednija sveučilišta u Kini se nalaze u velikim gradovima poput Pekinga, Šangaja, Guangzhoua itd. Studentima iz ovih gradova je u pravilo lakše upisati fakultet jer prije svega imaju bolje početne uvjete za studiranje. Kao drugo, zbog toga što se gradsko stanovništvo vrlo brzo povećava i vlada pokušava kontrolirati broj ljudi koji dolaze u velike gradove, samo najbolji studenti se mogu upisati na sveučilišta u velikim gradovima. Studirala sam na jednom od najboljih sveučilišta u Šangaju i tamo sam upoznala studente iz seoskih područja Kine. Imali su odlične ocjene, marljivo su učili i imali su temeljita znanja. Gledajući na njihov primjer, mogla sam naučiti kako naporan rad i posvećenost učenju mogu pomoći prevladati izazove s kojima se suočavamo u životu.

Studenti iz seoskih područja moraju učiti danju i noću kako bi dobili visoku ocjenu na ispitima. Ako roditelji imaju priliku, plaćaju djeci dodatne satove i vrlo su uključeni u proces obrazovanja. Studenti također marljivo studiraju jer znaju da će njihova plaća ovisiti o ugledu završenog sveučilišta.

Suočavamo se s istom situacijom kada govorimo o siromašnim isključenim zajednicama širom svijeta poput Roma. Romi obično žive u vrlo lošim uvjetima u izoliranim naseljima bez pristupa javnom prijevozu, struji i vodi. Mnoga djeca ne idu u školu. Za to postoje nekoliko razloga.

Kao prvo, Romi, koji su sada roditelji, nisu u svojoj mladosti imali priliku pohađati školu, te ponekad ne prepoznaju važnost obrazovanja za svoju djecu. Kao drugo, djeci je često potrebna pomoć oko domaćih zadaća, ali njihovi roditelji nisu u stanju pružiti im takvu pomoć, jer sami nemaju dovoljno znanja. Kao treće, često nema dovoljno novca za osnovne stvari poput knjiga, javnog prijevoza, smještaja itd. Takve osnovne potrebe mora osigurati država kako bi Romi imali bolji pristup obrazovanju. Roditelji također moraju imati pristup obrazovanju kako bi svojoj djeci pomogli u učenju.

Konačno, obrazovanje je od ključnog značaja za društvo i mora biti temelj boljeg životnog standarda. Sveučilišta bi se trebala smatrati nečim normalnim za svakoga, jer je ključna stvar za budućnost cijelog društva.

 

 

Students' story: from poverty to success

Have you ever been in such situation where you feel incomplete just because you have a worse financial background? Or maybe you thought you had a lack of knowledge and experience in different fields, because your parents could not provide you with that for some financial reasons? Perhaps the conditions were not good enough for getting significant education at school or university? But try to look at it from the other angle. If you have many barriers on the way of getting something, in the end you become a much stronger person and appreciate your results more. Those who grew up in poor families and decided to change the initial family role model, usually get unbelievable achievements.

All over the world there are people who live in bad conditions, and those who try to make it better, really make a difference. In students’ life there are many topics to talk about and as I lived in China, I would like to talk about my personal experience there and tell about students from rural areas.

Although China has been developing rapidly and nowadays achieved great economic success, there are still parts of China where people are not provided with decent living and education conditions. There is still a huge gap between Eastern and Western China in terms of economic, social and cultural as well as educational development.

Schools in Western China, especially in rural areas, do not have enough highly-qualified teachers and materials. Most of the families have low income and cannot provide their children with many opportunities. Moreover, China has a huge population of 1.4 billion people. It means, there is very high competition for getting a better position in the society.

The most prestigious universities in China are located in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou etc. For students who are from those cities, it is often easier to get into the University. First of all, because they initially had better conditions to study. Second of all, because the population of the cities has been increasing very fast and the government tries to control the number of people coming to big cities. So, only the most outstanding students can get into those Universities in big cities. I studied in one of the best Universities in Shanghai and met a number of students from rural areas there. They had excellent grades, studied hard and had profound knowledge. Taking into consideration their example, I could see that students from rural areas showed how hard work and dedication can help us overcome the challenges we are faced with in life.

They have to study day and night to get a high score at the exams. If parents have such opportunity, they provide children with additional classes and they are very engaged into the process of education. Students do it knowing that the better University they graduate from, the higher salary they will have.

The same problem comes when we talk about poor excluded communities all over the world, like Roma people. Roma usually live in very bad conditions in isolated settlements without access to public transport, electricity and water. Many children do not go to school. There could be a few reasons for that.

First, in the past Roma people, who are parents now, didn’t have an opportunity to go to school, so sometimes they don’t recognize the importance of education for their children. Second, often children need help with homework, but their parents are not able to provide such assistance, because they themselves are not informed enough to help. Third, there is no financial opportunity to get basic materials like books, transport, accommodation fees etc. Such basics must be provided by the government in order to have more access to get education. Also, parents need to have access to be educated too in order to help their children with everything they need.

Finally, education is vital for society and should be an initial ground for having a better life standard. University must be considered as a normal thing for everyone, as it is the key point of the future of the whole society.