A group of high school students in the city of
Zhuji in east
China's Zhejiang Province have started a campaign to encourage
fellow pupils across the country to take good care of their
textbooks so the volumes can be reused.
The proposal has sparked heated discussion among schools and
educationalists since the campaign began late last month.
Lou Xinyun, one of those behind the campaign, said: "Every year at
the end of term, our class and dormitories are full of textbooks of
all kinds, which have only been used for five months, but we will
not use them any more. Meanwhile, we know that there are many
children from poor families who are unable to afford books."
The youngsters calculated that if the textbooks of the 220 million
high school and primary school students in China can be reused for
five years, the country can save 528,000 tons of paper a year,
worth more than 31.68 billion yuan (US$3.82 billion).
Hou Jihui, deputy director of the city government's education
bureau, said: "In the United States, textbooks can be used for five
years and in Japan for 10 years. In China, a developing country, we
need to save more funds and resources for the country's
construction.
"We think highly of this proposal and are sure that it will help
students to pay closer attention to their environment."
In
fact, the reusing of textbooks will not only save paper but also a
considerable amount of water, electricity, timber, coal and
chemicals, said the young campaigners.
Zhuji has decided to try reusing textbooks in the near future.
Teachers and students generally favour the idea but others are not
so sure.
Yang Yiqing, head teacher of Hangzhou Xuejun Primary School, said:
"I am afraid that most parents will not like the idea, worrying
about hygiene problems.
"If textbooks are to be reused, they (the texts) must remain
similar without many changes every year. They should be reorganized
to leave out the exercises (to be filled in), so that they won't be
full of already-done exercises when they are passed on to the
following users," said Yang.
(China Daily December 12, 2002)