Helping underprivileged children help themselves

Junjian Gaoshan speaks at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai this month. [Photo by Cecily Liu/China Daily]

Junjian Gaoshan's earliest childhood memories are ones of loneliness and isolation. His mother worked as a teacher in the bustling, urban city of Yichang in Hubei province, while he remained in the more rural city of Zhijiang.

"I didn't go to school. I hung around with my grandparents all day, and I didn't know what was going on in the outside world. I felt lonely, because I didn't have any peers," he said.

Now 23 years old, Gaoshan is fighting at the forefront of the global battle for equality in education. His actions have already changed the lives of many children in China and he has ambitions to make the world a better place.

He is one of 18 members of a youth advocacy group in the Global Education First Initiative, a project led by the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Kimoon, to improve the coverage and quality of education globally.

Gaoshan first got involved with youth education issues during his high school years. His school was preparing the students for China's high school graduation exams, the gaokao, and had removed various subjects not considered important, like music, art and physical education. Gaoshan led his classmates in writing letters to the school principal and the local education authority, and within a month the subjects were brought back into the classroom.

"We explained that young people need to be rounded in their skills. Exams are not everything," he said, taking a moment out from preparations for a presentation at this month's Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai.

In addition, Gaoshan and his friends also invited students with talent in painting, music and dancing to give workshops to other students on Saturdays and Sundays, broadening their skill set.