TI and government officials participate in a groundbreaking ceremony at a TI Hope School in Nanbu County, Sichuan Province, China, near TI's Chengdu wafer fab.

TI broke ground recently on construction of a new classroom building at a Hope School in impoverished Nanbu County, Sichuan Province, China, near the company's Chengdu wafer fabrication facility (CFAB).

Jim Lee, general manager of CFAB, and four TI volunteers attended the ceremony at the ChengGuan No. 3 Elementary School where Lee gave a speech to hundreds of students.

Also in attendance were the vice party secretary of Nanbu, two vice mayors, the secretary of the China youth league, the director and vice director of the Education Bureau, school staff and local news media.

"The Hope School project is part of our citizenship program to enhance our community relationship," Lee said. "The school will also serve as a platform for employee volunteering activities, which has proved to be a successful way to boost employee morale."

Need is great
Many rural areas in China do not have enough money to build or fix schools that are in desperate need of repair. A new school can provide primary education for hundreds of students and help improve the prospects of children living in several villages.

The Hope School program seeks to aid schools in poor remote areas that are in urgent need of renovation.

Jim Lee, general manager of CFAB, and four TI volunteers visited with five orphaned students at ChengGuan No. 3 Elementary School at the TI Hope School groundbreaking.

TI donated the standard RMB 400,000 ($63,215.12 U.S.) funding package to the China Youth Development Foundation for naming rights to the school, which is at the border of urban and rural areas in Nanbu. The Chinese government will provide matching funds.

"Education is the primary focus of our community programs around the world," said TI Chief Citizenship Officer Trisha Cunningham. "The classroom building will give the students in Nanbu County resources they need to enhance their learning."

The classroom building, which will be 6,934 square meters in size, will be built at ChengGuan No. 3, one of the schools that received a multimedia classroom and library from TI last year. In all, TI donated 30 multimedia classrooms and 20 libraries to Nanbu County schools. Read related article.

TI also donated $20,000 for a two-day teacher training program in November that enabled more than 800 Nanbu County teachers to learn best practices from three top education experts in China.

Providing support
After the ceremony, Lee visited the media classroom donated by TI, and met five students who are orphans and attend the school. Lee and the other TI volunteers sat down and talked with the students, gave them gifts, and exchanged contact information with them.

TI hopes to obtain support from local business partners to later equip the classroom building.

More than 2,300 students in grades kindergarten through sixth attend the school, and the number is expected to grow as the area sees more development. The school employs about 107 teachers, with average class sizes of more than 70 students.

When the new classrooms are built, classes will be smaller meaning that each student can get more attention and care. Forty-four percent of the students are from Nanbu County, and the rest are mostly children of migrant workers.

TI expects construction to be completed by September or October. The new classroom building will join the school's four other buildings and track and field facilities.