Students from ethnic groups rely on university for better future

A college freshman from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region with a relative examine documents to get loans for higher education from the local government. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Ya Qiaoli is waiting eagerly for her university admission letter at her home in a mountainous village in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, ever since she was told that she has been admitted to Guangxi University of Nationalities.

For her, the letter is crucial. It means she can spend the next four years in Nanning, the regional capital, studying finance.

Ya scored 549 points out of 750 in June's national college entrance exam, better known as gaokao. The points guarantee university acceptance, yet they are not enough for her to apply for a good major.

"I was able to choose either a good university or a good major only after I got the bonus points for ethnic students," says Ya.

As a student from the Zhuang ethnic group, Ya got 10 bonus points, according to a national policy that allows ethnic students to gain as many as 20 bonus gaokao points.

The policy helps students of ethnic groups, many from remote and impoverished areas with poor educational standards, to reduce their disadvantage in the exam.

Ya studies in the only high school in Fengshan county, her hometown.

Located in Hechi city, it is a poverty-stricken county.

A total of 1,133 students from her school took the gaokao this year, and about 60 percent were ethnic students, mainly from the Zhuang and Yao ethnic groups.

According to the policy, Zhuang students can get 10 bonus points and Yao students can get 20.

After the recruitment process was finished, 97.7 percent of students were admitted to universities or junior colleges.

Luo Yingyang, the deputy principal of Fengshan County High School, says: "The figures have obviously increased compared with 10 years ago as a result of both improved education and favorable policies."