Zhang Guimei : Role Model of the Times in recognition of her dedication to education for girls

Zhang Guimei, gave a pre talk to her students to take the college entrance examination on June 7, 2021

Zhang Guimei with her students

Born in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province in 1957, Zhang Guimei is a teacher and the principal of Huaping Girls High School in Lijiang City, Yunnan Province. She is well-known as she established the first girls' public high school in China, which does not charge tuition fees, but also for achieves high percentage of graduates who enter universities.

In 2001, Zhang, then a teacher of local middle school, was appointed the part-time president of a center for homeless children in Huaping county, she found many of the girls who lived at the center were abandoned by their parents. She also noticed many girls in the region, especially from poor families, had little chance of getting education.

These experiences inspired Zhang to establish a school for girls living in the mountainous areas, mainly those who are unable to continue their studies after completing the nine-year compulsory education. She was determined to make sure the school did not charge tuition fees.

In 2007, Zhang was selected as a representative of the 17th CPC National Congress, and the local government issued a special grant for her to purchase some new clothes before she went to attend the meetings in Beijing. Instead she used the money to buy computers for her students.

At the meeting, a reporter noticed Zhang was wearing jeans with holes in them, and reported her story. Since then, Zhang and her dream to start a school for girls have drawn attention from the public. Consequently, governments of Lijiang city and Huaping county allocated one million yuan, respectively, to construct a school, and the Huaping High School for Girls was officially opened in September 2008.

In the past 13 years, Zhang has helped more than 1,600 girls achieve their university dreams. Zhang has changed the fates of these girls by enabling them to pursue education and preventing poverty from being passed on to the next generation.

She has been honored with the title “Role Model of the Times” in recognition of her dedication to education for girls.

Source：The Press Office, International Department of the CPC Central Committee