Girls from ethnic groups get a real opportunity thanks to vision and determination of school professionals.

A stitch in time… as the saying goes. But for girls from ethnic groups going to a school that nurtures their talent, the ability to stitch is just one of their achievements. Li Zhongmei, 11, of the Zhuang ethnic group, is one of the girls. She is learning embroidery in class and that, among other skills she is being taught, will help her thread together her future prospects.

The fifth-grader is a boarder from two all-girl classes at No 1 Primary School in Guangnan county, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province.

It takes her about two hours to travel to school from her home in the mountainous region, including traveling along a 10-kilometer-long dirt road. Villagers send her by car and then she takes a bus.

Starting from 1995, the primary school began to enroll an all-girl class drawn from local ethnic minorities, offering a two-year education from fifth to sixth grade, exempt from all expenses, including tuition fees and board and lodging costs.

Outstanding pupils from impoverished families in the county's remote areas are selected.

After graduation, they will study at the county's best middle school, and boost their chances of going to college. The graduates of the all-girl classes have gone on to become leading contributors in all walks of life, such as civil servants, doctors and teachers.

"I like my new school life. The environment and teaching methods have changed (at the new school), but I don't have much pressure regarding my study," Zhongmei says. "I want to go to Tsinghua University. My dream is to be a teacher."

The new school provides her with access to a library, and she loves to borrow books, especially those containing fairy tales.

Her parents, who had to curtail their formal education at primary school level, work in Baise, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It's about one hour on a high-speed train from their daughter's school in Guangnan.

Her father, Li Chuntian, 46, is both delighted and proud that she was admitted to the all-girl class. He says the village only has several female college graduates, and he's willing to continue funding and supporting her future studies, although, as he also has two sons, he sometimes has to borrow money from relatives to cover their tuition fees and other living expenses.

Empowering knowledge

Another pupil, Hou Shengli, 12, is also flourishing in the all-girl class. She visited the main town of Guangnan county for the first time when she enrolled at the school this year-actually it's the first place she visited other than her village. It's also the first time she has used a computer in class.

She and her two younger brothers only meet their parents once a year, because they're working in Guangdong province.

"I'm suited to this new life as I've made new friends. I like reading books and want to study hard to improve my math," Shengli says.

Besides ethnic-group culture classes, the primary school also offers biology classes and organizes talks about safety, such as protection against sexual assault.

To broaden their horizons, the school calls for students to join the program "learning science with my mother", which is organized by the Science Popularization Department at the China Association for Science and Technology.

It encourages children from poverty-stricken counties to read aloud short science articles to their mothers, to not only foster closer parental bonds, but also help popularize scientific knowledge in rural areas.

"The all-girl class program is a great example of getting rid of poverty via education and plays an important role in Guangnan's poverty alleviation," Zhang Xiulan, head of Wenshan prefecture, said at the opening ceremony of the all-girl classes in September. The national-level impoverished county shed that unwanted label in November.

This semester, the school recruited 100 students for two all-girl classes, the first time that it has extended enrollment.

A company in Jiangsu province has provided over 1.04 million yuan ($159,000) to support the biennial program. This is to cover many items, such as the girls' living expenses and renovation fees for their dormitory.

Liao Nongying, a veteran teacher there, recalls that, back in the 1990s, the belief that men were superior to women was not uncommon in the county's more remote areas.

"Since the program has been running for years, it's easier to recruit students, as more parents realize that knowledge can change destinies," Liao says, adding that most graduates do go to college and find good jobs.

It was in 2006 that the school first got funding from private enterprises. Before that, the school depended on local governmental departments and public institutions.

Liao's 500 daughters

For Liao, 52, it has been tough work as head teacher of the all-girl class. For 22 years she has devoted herself tirelessly to the success of the school. Now she only teaches Chinese language class.

Over the decades, she has taught more than 500 students. Many still call her "Mother Liao" long after their graduation.

When she was head teacher of the class, she was at school from 7 am to 9 pm, calling it a day only after seeing the boarding students go to bed. She gave it everything and even had to ask her parents to look after her daughter, a teenager at the time.

"Students are sensible and smart, and eager to learn," she says.

When a new semester started, she required students to speak Mandarin all the time, rather than the language of their ethnic groups.

Besides their academic studies, as they were away from home for the first time in their lives, she had to take care of the girls and teach them how to live on their own and handle chores, such as making beds and doing the laundry.

She accompanied them on walks around the town, to get familiar with the place and learn about traffic rules. She also guided them on women's issues and hygiene, and took them to see the doctor when they fell ill.

She says that, compared with the past, children today seem less able to lead an independent life, and some don't even know how to do household chores. Many are left-behind children and their grandparents would take on everything themselves. But, after two or three months at school, they master these basic life skills.

Paying it forward

The first all-girl class, in 1995, only had 44 students. Among them was Pan Wenying, 37, of the Yao ethnic group, who now teaches Chinese language at the primary school.

"I applied for a job at the school because I feel attached to my alma mater. I'm glad to return as a teacher, shouldering the responsibility of educating the next generation of our motherland," Pan says.

"It's hard for the younger generation, those like my child, to imagine the tough life I had in my childhood. For me, it's bittersweet, with many happy memories."

Pan recalls that, back in 1995, it was a great honor for those from Guangnan's mountainous regions to be recruited to a school in the town.

As the village had no cement road, her father walked with her on a mountain path for about four hours to get there. They also brought two bags of rice as provisions for the semester, as required by the school.

Pan only went home once a semester, and couldn't contact her parents while at school, because the village had no electricity, let alone a telephone.

She was worried about her new life, but it took her just a month to adjust to it.

She learned how to use a bucket attached to a rope to get water out of a well, as the school had no tap water.

All of the girls were simply dressed in the homemade clothes of their own ethnic groups. Most had no pocket money.

They once received clothes and stationery donated by primary school students in Shanghai as part of a public-service activity. It was the first time Pan had worn such clothes that kept her so warm in winter. She still keeps some as a memento of her school days.

Upon arrival, many girls had poor Mandarin skills because they spoke the different languages of their ethnic groups. Pan recalls that, although they were straight-A students from their villages, in the early days, they needed to study very hard to keep up with their county peers.

"We studied hard and followed the instructions of our teachers. Even during weekends, we would recite texts under the shade of a tree," Pan says.

Life in town was so different and her worldview was also shifting with each new revelation. Watching TV-which even then was still just black-and-white-as well as eating apples and mooncakes were all new experiences.

"The all-girl class has changed our destiny completely. All of my former classmates have decent jobs and a few are entrepreneurs," says Pan.

Pan noticed that many of her female peers in her village discontinued their studies before finishing primary school, got married in their teenage years and became housewives and mothers.

Many impoverished families could only afford to pay for their sons to study. Daughters would be married early to help their parents get a dowry, which would be spent to help ease their family finances.

"For female students from poor families, the all-girl class becomes a goal for them to study when they see pioneers like me and my classmates," says the student-turned-teacher, adding that parents, who have seen some of them graduate from college and obtain good jobs, are more willing to send their children to school.

Pan believes that, in this era, the all-girl class is necessary, even though people's material living standards have been raised. In the digital age there are some lessons that girls learn better when they are together and can talk to each other. As children that are left behind to be looked after by grandparents, they may neglect their studies and just lose themselves playing with their smartphones, living life without a clear purpose. However, in an all-girl class, they live at school and, with good company and in a caring atmosphere, they can focus on study and strive for a happier, fruitful life.