OREANDA-NEWS. July 10, 2013. The closing ceremony of the 4th session training course run by the public program entitled Color Candle Project for the training of principals of primary schools in western region was held in Beijing. Yao Zhongmin, chief supervisor of China Development Bank (CDB) and Wei Liqun, president of Western China Human Resources Development Foundation (WCHRDF) attended the ceremony.

The training program entitled Color Candle Project was jointly set up by CDB and WCHRDF in 2012. CDB donated funds to the program and selected, as an initial batch, some principals of primary schools from six districts/counties assigned to CDB for poverty alleviation to go to Beijing for comprehensive quality training, so as to promote the development of basic education in western region. A total of 45 principals of primary schools from the counties of Wuchuan, Zhengan and Daozhen of Guizhou Province took part in the training course of this session. Till now, a total of 185 principals of primary schools from Sichuan and Guizhou provinces have received training from this Color Candle Project, yielding good results.

According to Yao Zhongmin, the Color Candle Project is a specific measure taken by CDB to fulfill its liability to the society. The Project focuses on poverty alleviation through intelligence for poor regions, which has a positive effect on the alleviation of poverty and the acceleration of development of poor regions. CDB will continue to gain experience from practice and strive to further promote the Project under the philosophy that the training of a principal will promote a school and the promotion of a school will drive the development of a region. CDB will make effort to lead the Project to a more standardized and systematic level and make it a brand, under the spirit that people, when get together, will be a ball of fire, and when dispersed, will be twinkling stars in the sky, so as to benefit more people in the poverty-stricken regions.

In recent years, CDB has been active in poverty alleviation activities, and has endeavored to construct a financing system with equal financing right for everyone, by way of educational donations and student loans etc as the important means to realize equality of education. As of the end of 2012, CDB has granted a total of RMB 42 billion student loans in 25 provinces (cities) and to students from 2,595 universities and colleges, supporting students from poor families for 7.74 million times, which accounts for 80% of the market share.