Jhanghu Ecological Junior High and Elementary School of Gukeng Township, Yunlin County, held its inauguration ceremony on November 30th. Brilliant performances by students and the community were arranged throughout the ceremony, bringing much liveliness to the inauguration. Important guest and local figures such as Chief Secretary of Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council, Chang Herng-yuh, Yunlin County Magistrate Su Chih-fen, Chang Yung-Fa Foundation CEO Zhong De-mei, Gukeng Township administrator Lin Huei-ju, and Principal Chen Qing-zhen all attended the inauguration ceremony and celebrated the completion of new campus facilities with students and staff at the school.

Chief Secretary of the Reconstruction Council, Chang Herng-yuh, stated that as Jhanghu Ecological Junior High and Elementary School was reconstructed on another site, it took 5 site visits to select a completely safe site to reconstruct the school campus. In the end, this beautiful tea field at Jhanghu’s Shiziguan in Gukeng Township was selected. Construction began on July 20th, 2012. To accelerate implementation, the Reconstruction Council convened 26 project meetings. Reconstruction costs amounted to NT$234 million for the entire campus, of which NT$171 million was donated by the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation. The remaining NT$63 million was subsidized by the Ministry of Education. The Chang Yung-Fa Foundation also stood alongside the Reconstruction Council in post-disaster reconstruction matters such as securing the land needed to rebuild the school, simple water purification system, instructional facilities, etc. From constructing hardware and infrastructure to sharing spiritual concern in a software manner, this arduous journey has demonstrated that love and perseverance despite hardships is the best example of the Taiwanese spirit. This is a perfect illustration of how public welfare organizations in Taiwan care for society. Many thanks to the charitable deeds from all sources, as these are the kind of soft power that Taiwan should be very proud of.

Chang Yung-Fa Foundation CEO Zhong De-mei stated that “Jhanghu Ecological Junior High and Elementary School” has set many record firsts. These include being the school that required the most site visits, most complex construction procedures, highest support costs, longest construction period, latest construction completion, as well as the most beautiful and first public 9-year elementary and secondary forest school in Yunlin County.

The building structure of Jhanghu Ecological Junior High and Elementary School is composed of one basement level and two stories above ground. This includes 18 regular classrooms (12 junior high and 6 elementary), 7 subject classrooms, an IT library, general classroom, kindergarten, student and staff dormitories, and an outdoor grassy sports field. The new campus especially utilizes Jhanghu Elementary School’s founding vision, planning the structure around concepts such as “true love of nature, experience health, concern for humanities, e-learning”. In terms of spatial arrangement, structures are spread out so that the school forms a natural gathering. In terms of axial routes, divergence and convergence of a river is utilized to form village concepts of different forms, creating a campus movement that is lively and engaging. One’s perspective extends all the way to mountains in the distance in this forest school promoting the spirit of learning in a natural environment. Currently, 62 junior high and elementary school students are about to enroll. In the future, maximum student capacity may reach 240 students.

After inauguration, not only does this new campus provide the Jhanghu region with a large public space available for public use, the campus will also serve as the most comprehensive, safest venue for learning in the Jhanghu region. This will be the first experimental forest ecology education secondary and elementary school, as well as the nation’s most beautiful forest school.
 

Jhanghu Ecological secondary and elementary school was donated by Chang Yung-Fa Foundation

Inauguration of Jhanghu Ecological secondary and elementary school

Jhanghu Ecological secondary and elementary school was donated by Chang Yung-Fa Foundation