In the early morning of October 14, RTVU in Sihong County of Jiangsu Province was filled with the boisterous sound of village officials arriving for their first class of college education. A programme was launched in July of this year to provide village officials in Sihong County with a college education.

The programme is expected to last for five years and will provide chief officials and reserve cadres under 45 in village party branches and committees with the opportunity to receive higher education.

Through multiple screenings, a total of 40 top-ranking village officials have been selected for this semester, among which 35 officials were born after 1970, accounting for 87.5% of the total enrollment.

Sihong County has focused on improving the quality of village cadres since the beginning of this year. The “1+X” model of training young village cadres is a systematic degree programme with supplementary activities such as “Path To A Stronger Village” forum, “Village Party Secretary’s Open Lecture”, practice and observation, as well as agricultural skills training to increase their technological and cultural qualities and capacity to achieve prosperity.

By He Haiqiang