Since Zigen’s inception, helping rural kids to finish school has been a central focus of Zigen’s projects. By providing tuition and schools fees to families in economic hardship, Zigen has made schooling affordable for a large number of rural children, especially girls who were denied the opportunity to education.

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Supporting students in village elementary schools and junior high schools still forms the core of Zigen projects and receives the largest portion of the donated funds. Zigen’s advocacy for long of education of children at the elementary and secondary stage as a basic human right is echoed and vindicated by Chinese government’s move to make basic education free in poor rural areas in the 2000s. However, Zigen’s scholarship projects have continued, as some families of students are still facing rising cost of schooling, in spite of the implementation of “free education” by the government.

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Besides scholarships, Zigen supported other school projects, including improvements of school infrastructures, donation of equipments, subsidies for teachers, improvements of student living quarters and food, extra curricular activities, training, and local culture heritage.