M&G Foundation empowers CHAGEE’s Rural Children Education Assistance Program with art education

On June 13, 2025, a warm and welcoming atmosphere permeated Runze School in Hanying Village, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province, China, as the first phase of CHAGEE’s Rural Children Education Assistance Program was officially launched here. This program focuses on the healthy growth of underprivileged children, aiming to foster their all-round development by providing nutritional and educational support. As a partner of CHAGEE in public welfare activities, M&G Foundation plays an essential role in the Rural Children Education Assistance Program, supporting the growth of left-behind and underprivileged children through stationery donations and the provision of art education resources.

Yunnan, a major labor-outgoing province in China, faces a serious problem with left-behind children. Data shows that among Baoshan City’s nearly 500,000 school-age children, over 40,000 are left-behind or underprivileged children. Baoshan Hanying Runze School, supported in the first phase of the Rural Children Education Assistance Program, is the province’s first public nine-year, full-boarding, small-class, model school dedicated for left-behind children in extreme poverty. The school implements an “overall service” program, offering parental care for children in need. A total of 48 teachers are paired with three to five children each.

To improve the physical and mental health of underprivileged children and alleviate operational pressures on the school, CHAGEE’s Rural Children Education Assistance Program provided a subsidy to buy meat, ensuring higher-quality meals for every student and supporting their healthy growth. Regarding educational support, M&G Foundation donated stationery kits to all of the more than 200 students at Hanying Runze School. The Foundation will continue to provide supplies and establish a long-term donation mechanism to ensure students’ basic needs are met.

Furthermore, to meet the cultural needs of rural children, M&G Foundation, drawing on its years of experience in rural art education programs, has developed a unique art lesson plan for the Rural Children Education Assistance Program. This plan cleverly incorporates the Eastern tea culture embodied by CHAGEE into art lessons, guiding children to learn and experience tea culture through handicrafts, thereby improving their overall literacy. On the afternoon of the launch ceremony, Lin Yizhong, Deputy Secretary-General of M&G Foundation, as a special guest, led a group of third-grade students in a collaborative art making event. As they worked together to color a large painting, the children experienced the joy and reward of art creation.

Since 2020, M&G Foundation has launched the “Art Education Plan” program for rural children nationwide. Focusing on modules such as teacher resource alignment, art lesson plan development, community-based art classes, and art works showcasing, the program is dedicated to building an industry ecosystem for rural children’s art education, promoting rural revitalization and improving students’ art quality. As of the end of 2024, the program had been implemented in 1,076 rural schools and 36 community child service centers, generating a total of one million instances of benefit. To encourage greater social participation in rural art education, M&G Foundation is actively developing an “Art Education + Social Participation” platform. Through standardized art education service modules such as customized art kits and lesson plan development, the Foundation encourages businesses to participate leveraging their unique strengths, so as to empower rural development and children’s growth through art education together.

This philanthropic partnership between M&G Foundation and CHAGEE has stemmed from a shared understanding of rural education and child development. The launch of the Rural Children Education Assistance Program marks the beginning of a journey of love. Moving forward, both parties will continue to deepen collaboration, leveraging our resources to support the development of children in the rural area.