A German Embassy grant of 22,560 RMB, with a local contribution of 2,800RMB, made possible the purchase of 87 desk/chair sets for students and 20 such sets for teachers in four schools in Xing'er Tibetan Township. Nuerwa Tibetan Primary School, a recipient school, serves 45 students in four grades. All students and teachers are Tibetan. The classrooms and teachersâ offices are in dire need of repair. They leak during the summer rains and are very cold in the winter. The crude school environment negatively influences the learning environment and severely limits the range of educational activities by hindering the physical and mental development of students and impairing teacher motivation. Such conditions have a harmful effect on local attendance rates and the number of students that move on to higher education. Before the project was implemented, which provided 12 sets of desks and chairs for students and two sets of desks and chairs for teachers, the 45 students shared 15 half-broken desks and teachers had neither desks nor beds. The project brought about general improvement in the learning facilities available to students and teachers, and thus enhanced the overall educational environment. Such advances are critical to student achievement in this poverty-stricken area, and positively influence the capacity of children to learn and thus move onto higher education. The effects of improvements in education, however, reach beyond the personal benefit of students, and spill over into the community. A better-educated population means a more successful and capable work force. Students who attend college are better equipped to participate in todayâs fast-paced economy and better qualified to take on a wider range of responsibilities. They have the experience and training necessary to engage effectively in income-generating activities and therefore stimulate economic growth in their localities. Advancements in the learning environment of the four schools in Xingâer Tibetan Township thus set the stage for greater development in the region. For the villagers, this progress means new possibilities and vast improvements in quality of life. In making such improvements, we hope to take the first steps towards lessening the gap between the living conditions and life prospects in Eastern and Western China.