School Day 24: About Chinese link-up

Students at three schools - urban, semi-urban and rural - in Guangdong province linked up to discuss how they can bridge the gap between cities and the countryside and reduce the inequality between rich and poor.

Click on the links below to read more about the schools that took part.

Affiliated High School of South China Normal University

Tian Jiabing High School

Feng Xia Middle School

Affiliated High School of South China Normal University - urban

All classrooms have multi-media teaching facilities

Founded in 1952, the school has produced more than 20,000 graduates.

Ninety-eight percent of them have passed the college entrance exam and have been accepted by universities all across China.

The majority of the top scorers in the college entrance exams in Guangdong province come from this school.

All classrooms have multi-media teaching facilities.

Students' dormitories have air conditioners, solar-panel hot water tanks and bathrooms.

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Tian Jiabing High School, Qingyuan - semi-urban

Some 80% of students are boarders

Tian Jiabing High was founded in September 1996. It is named after a Hong Kong tycoon who donates money to fund students' education for several schools in Guangdong province.

Although the school is in the centre of the town, close to government buildings, many of its students are from the countryside or rural areas after being helped by the school fund.

The school has 56 classes - 32 for secondary and 24 for primary levels.

Some classrooms have multi-media teaching facilities with computer equipments fully installed.

There are about 3,000 students and 80% of them are boarders, sleeping over at school.

Most of them are from neighbouring counties and villages. Some of them are from very poor families.

Students' living quarters have telephones and solar-panel hot water tanks.

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Feng Xia Middle School, Qingxin - rural

Feng Xia Middle School was established by Madam Chen Feng Xia in 1999.

The school helps poor children from nearby villages

It aims to give poor children in the villages of under-developed Qingxin county a proper education so that they can become independent.

About one-third of the students are recruited from the city centre, one-third from the vicinity of school and the last third from towns and villages in Qingxin.

Tuition fees for students from poor families are either reduced or exempted, instead being subsidised by school fees collected from richer students or supported by school donors.

Most school facilities were donated by various parties inside mainland China.

The tables in the dining hall came from a Guangzhou primary school while the chairs were donated by an international organisation.

A number of second-hand computers from another school are stacked in a storeroom waiting to be used when the new teaching block, which has yet to be built, is ready.