Providing Reading Materials

Reading and writing are basic skills in school, and later, in work. To improve their quality of life, China's rural population must learn to read and write. However, books and other reading material are hardly available in most rural areas. Rural schools are poorly equipped. Many rural students do not have basic textbooks, not to mention other books for supplementary reading. Rural teachers lack teaching and reference materials. Rural residents have little access to information that could help them increase their harvest, like agricultural methods of cultivation and processing; they also lack knowledge about hygiene that will improve the quality of their daily life and health. In view of this situation, ESS started two projects in the late 1980s to provide library books to rural schools and public libraries in China.

• ARSL - US$600 per rural school library
• ARPL - US$6,000 per rural public library