Jiangmen invests in quality education to raise its Greater Bay Area profile, pumps billions into schools to develop talent
- Some 17 schools are being built in the third-tier Greater Bay Area city of Jiangmen, which will have 30,000 places when the campuses are ready
- The government is betting on demand from immigrant families, higher living standards and increase in population
At least 17 school projects are under construction in Jiangmen, with five set to open in September when the new school term starts, according to information compiled by real estate services provider Leju. When complete, all the schools will accommodate nearly 30,000 students.
Eleven of the new schools are concentrated in the core district of Pengjiang in the northeastern part of the city, followed by five in the adjoining Jianghai district and one in the western district of Enping.
A three-year action plan for schools in Pengjiang district, issued on August 14, calls for an investment of 4.2 billion yuan (US$612 million) to construct and expand 15 campuses that will add more than 10,000 seats for “high-quality compulsory education”.
The city government initiated the project following the successful completion of a 1.8 billion yuan programme to build 17 schools in December 2018.
The new schools could meet new demand from the increase in the number of children as couples have more than one child, development of urban areas and immigrants from other provinces, said Ye Mingsi, a Jiangmen resident in her 20s.