Region sets pace in vocational education

New jobs on way

In addition to modern protected agriculture, the Hongsibu vocational school offers studies in photovoltaic engineering technology and application, and wine-making technologies based on demand in local industries.

The highway between Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia, and Hongsibu is lined with wind and photovoltaic power facilities. The installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power generation in Hongsibu accounts for nearly one-sixth the total in Ningxia.

Emerging new energy operations and the maintenance industry are likely to bring 6,000 jobs to Hongsibu by 2025, according to a Ningxia Daily report.

Guo Bo, deputy principal of the vocational school, said launching the photovoltaic engineering technology and application major in 2021 serves the development needs of local industry, which is short of talent, while helping students with internships and future employment.

The school has been in close contact with enterprises such as Hisense Hitachi Air-Conditioning Systems Co, automobile manufacturer SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) and e-commerce platform JD, Guo said.

Yang Zhengxing, who graduated from the school last year, said he worked as an intern at Hisense Hitachi in Qingdao, Shandong province, in 2021, installing damping blocks in airconditioners, for which he earned about 6,000 yuan a month. He is one of more than 20 graduates from the school that year who now work at the company.

The daylily plantation program attended by Ma is part of the school's cooperation with Ningxia Rongguang Technology Group, which operates a smart agriculture business. It also sponsors facilities, consumables and seedlings needed for lessons, invites experts for lectures and training, and sends technicians to the school for tutoring sessions.

Chen Zhixiong, the school's principal, said it bridges the gap between students and industry, promotes mutual understanding, and helps employees make career choices.

Students are helped with career planning and guided in finding an occupation that matches industrial needs.

Former principal Mi Zhanjun, who helped found the school in 2018, said people have long held a stereotypical view of vocational education.

"They tend to consider vocational secondary school students as inferior to those from high schools, as they have a relatively unsatisfactory performance in the senior high school entrance examination. These vocational students also lack confidence," Mi said.

"Our priority is to end such views, help the students build confidence, and make them realize that they can contribute greatly to society."

Many of these students have clear, practical ideas about their future.

Wang Lijun, 15, who is studying mechatronics, which combines electronics and mechanical engineering, said his parents are delighted he can now solve electrical problems at home. Wang wants to apply for a job with State Grid.

Hu Tao, 17, one of the first students at the school to take the photovoltaic engineering major, said he carried out research himself and consulted friends before deciding to study new energy.