Chapter 716: Donating money to support education

Finding a way for Xiacun to get rich has been able to meet most of Xiacun's needs in most aspects, but there is still one aspect that makes Xia Yu have to worry about.

That is education!

He had been to the village primary school, and the scene really made him feel for the children. The dilapidated teachers' quarters, the tables and benches patched up here and there, and even the blackboard were all pitted and worn, and the conditions were very difficult.

Moreover, the teachers who taught the classes were also of an older age. Xia Yu had listened outside for a long time and finally made a judgment.

The quality and quantity of the teachers at the school were both low, and there was a lack of teaching materials. The hardware facilities were also outdated. Under these conditions, it was difficult for the children to learn well.

And the children were the future of Xia Village. If they couldn't learn well during the education stage, how could they talk about enriching the country and strengthening the family? How could they contribute to society?

In his previous life, the education level in Xia Village was very low. Many children dropped out of school even before primary school. Xia Yu was one of the few college students in the village.

Xia Yu remembers very clearly that when he was a student in his previous life, there were 60 people in a class in primary school. By the sixth grade, there were only 52, eight of whom had dropped out or married one after the other. Then, after going to junior high school, even more dropped out.

Then, in high school, some people dropped out again. He found out that, of the people who had been in his primary school class, only three, including him, ended up going to a university ranked third tier or above.

The proportion is extremely low!

Perhaps in this life, with his intervention, the people of Xiayuan will become richer, but it's not necessarily all good things. Perhaps more children will be born with the idea that studying is useless and that they can make a living without studying.

So in this situation, Xia Yu wants to do his best to avoid this. He can't control other places, but in Xiayuan, there are still his father and uncles from his previous life, as well as other relatives. He still hopes that they can all study and study well!

Thinking about it, Xia Yu once again found Xia Anshan and mentioned to him the idea of building a new primary school.

Xia Yu's offer to pay for the road construction had already made Xia Anshan overjoyed, and now he was going to build a primary school as well. Xia Anshan was overjoyed and of course agreed, and immediately informed the whole village that the new primary school would be built at the selected site.

While the news was spreading through the village, Xia Yu called in the mayor of Nanshi Town, Li, and raised the issue of the need for support in terms of teachers.

Of course, Mayor Li had no objection, but the teachers had always been assigned centrally by the county education bureau, and the situation in the entire Nanshi Town was similar to that in Xia Village.

Therefore, he looked embarrassed and said, 'Mr. Xia, at present, all the village schools, including the junior high school in the town, are short of teachers, and the teachers are generally older. If teacher transfers are involved, the consent of the education bureau is required, and we have no right to interfere.'

Xia Yu frowned slightly, not expecting this situation. After thinking about it, he called for the car and asked the town mayor to lead the way to the various villages and the town to get a better understanding of the situation.

After a series of visits, Xia Yu was silent at what he saw.

The reality was as Mayor Li had said, and the situation was even worse. The primary schools in many villages were even worse than Xia Village's. When the students were asked, they said that it rained through the roof on rainy days. Although repairs were constantly being carried out, the classrooms were made of adobe and wooden beams, making it difficult to find tiles and carry out repairs.

However, despite the poor conditions, the children's enthusiasm for learning was undiminished, and their yearning for knowledge touched Xia Yu's heart.

On the way back, Xia Yu was silent the whole time, looking out of the car window at the rolling green mountains.

Mayor Li thought he had made Xia Yu unhappy, and was filled with fear. He immediately reported to the county, hoping to get help from the county.

This made County Magistrate Li anxious, and he directly approved the transfer of young teachers to Xia Village to make up for the teacher shortage there. He then came to explain the situation to Xia Yu.

In the courtyard, watching County Magistrate Li's cautious manner, Xia Yu was a little unable to laugh or cry.

'County Magistrate Li, please sit down and have some tea. I've just thought of something. I've worried you all.'

Seeing Xia Yu's attitude, County Magistrate Li let out a sigh of relief, but as soon as he sat down, he began to tell him the details.

'Mr Xia, the county has already discussed and decided to increase the tilt towards the educational resources of the county and Nanshi Town...'

Xia Yu listened quietly and smiled, saying, 'County Magistrate Li, I've worried you all because of my momentary thoughts.'

'Since you're here, I'd also like to talk to you about something. Please consider whether it's feasible.'

County Magistrate Li perked up, and said solemnly, 'Please go ahead, Mr Xia!'

Xia Yu nodded slightly, and began to speak: 'I visited the villages in Nanshi Town, and also had a chat with Mayor Li. I know that the education level in the whole county is more or less the same. After walking around for a while, I also had some feelings.'

'I'm a businessman, so if I say I don't have the means, then that's that. But since I've achieved a bit, I plan to give back to society. Although Xia Village is my hometown, to put it in a larger context, Nanshi Town and Longfeng County are also my hometowns, so I plan to do something for my hometown.'

'I plan to donate money to support education, build an elementary school for each village, a middle school for each town, and then build a high school for the county!'

County Magistrate Li stood up abruptly and blurted out in shock, 'Mr Xia, are you serious? You may not know that Longfeng County has 126 villages in 13 townships.'

His underlying meaning was clear: with such a huge number, would it not put a certain amount of pressure on Xia Yu?

Xia Yu smiled and said, 'That's not much. I'll build them all, and include the supporting teaching materials. It's just that you'll have to be responsible for the teaching staff.'

Even if he were to build one high school, 13 middle schools, and 126 elementary schools, at current prices, each school would cost a maximum of 5 million RMB, including a library and the land. And he might even be able to get it for 40% to 60% off!

And in order to ensure quality and quantity, he also plans to have Jiuzhou Industrial Company send someone over to supervise the construction, to ensure that every penny is well spent.

County Magistrate Li, his face beaming with joy, nodded eagerly, and excitedly bowed deeply to Xia Yu, a little choked up, saying, 'Mr Xia, on behalf of the people of Longfeng County, I thank you for your generosity. Your great deed will benefit the present generation and generations to come. Thank you!'

Next to him, Town Chief Li also excitedly bowed to Xia Yu to express his gratitude.

Xia Yu laughed and helped the two of them up.

Primary schools and high schools are available, so all that's left is the university. In a previous life, there were indeed no good universities in Ganzhou Province. There was only one 211 university in the whole province, and Ganzhou Province could not develop, and education played a significant role in this.

Afterwards, Xia Yu found Mayor Zhao and Wu Siming again and mentioned that he wanted to donate 50 million RMB in foreign exchange to build a high-level comprehensive university in Qianzhou City.

This good thing that fell from the sky directly stunned Mayor Zhao and Wu Siming, but this kind of thing was no longer up to them to decide, and they could only continue to report upwards.

Naturally, the result needs no elaboration. The mainland was extremely happy with Xia Yu's generous goodwill gesture and immediately sent someone to liaise.

Just 20 days later, the Jiangxi Provincial Government approved the report from Qianzhou City on the construction of Qianzhou University, and the higher authorities ordered top universities such as Yenching University, Shuimu University, Fudan University, the University of Science and Technology of China, and Zhejiang University to support the construction and teaching of Qianzhou University, directly opening the way for Qianzhou University to start with a high starting point.

In the future, Qianzhou University became the only double first-class university in Jiangxi Province, and Qianzhou City and Longfeng County produced many outstanding people.

Of course, this is already a later story.

After deciding to donate money to support education, Xia Yu sent someone to take care of the matter. He bid farewell to the Xia village clan and set off for Pengcheng.

There, Master Li Chunqiu and his entourage were already waiting, and someone from the mainland was also waiting to talk to him about the Wudangshan Scenic Area.

After inspecting the company in Pengcheng, he returned to Xiangjiang.