Rural schools try to catch up

Dalian, the second largest city in northern China’s Liaoning province, has 1,100 schools, with nearly 60% of them located in rural areas. "Since 2005, we have started a city-wide program to push the adoption of technology in rural schools," said Chen Chun Lin, director of the Dalian Education Bureau’s Information Center. Within the first three years, over 22,000 computers were installed, 850 computer labs were set up and 887 satellite connection points established." Despite these achievements, Chen feels that the digital chasm between urban and rural schools has not narrowed. "The speed of advancement in city schools is far exceeding the improvements in village ones." Chen said that at the moment, there is still a huge disparity in the use of IT between city and rural schools.