Students in a remote mountainous area sit attentively in a "computer" classroom with lined up self-assembled black-and-white computers adapted from TV screen displays, and keyboards from learning sets, in Dupeng primary school in Dafengdong Village, Kaili city, southwestern China's Guizhou province. (File Photo: Xinhua)

China's netizens have lately been attracted by an online photo showing rural students eager to learn using primitive, self-assembled "computers" in their classroom.

Images of these computers, made up of black-and-white TV screens as displays connected to the keyboards of a type of outdated learning sets, were recently uploaded by one netizen onto a forum of Xinhuanet, the Metropolitan Express, a local newspaper reports Saturday.

The photo was shot in Dupeng primary school in southwestern China's Guizhou Province. In the picture, students sit attentively in front of the "computers", keenly learning basic skills.

Located in mountainous area and short of money, the school purchased the keyboards with learning sets at a second-hand market. The so-called computer room in the picture was equipped with more than twenty such "computers". The TV sets were brought to the school from the students' homes.

Zhang Shaogang, one of the local teachers, said that the computer class was firstly initiated around the fall of 2004, catering to the needs of students interested in the computer. There were over 20 students in the class.

However, students cannot really surf online like urban children do. With these less intelligent gadgets, they can do nothing other than basic typing and typesetting. Even such an opportunity would be slim for quite a few students there who can't even afford a TV set, because the makeshift "computers" would be taken back home once students have graduated.

In this classroom, there are four real computers. Zhang owns one and the rest are donated by others. Teachers with the school expressed their sincere wishes that people with extra computers to spare will donate them to the kids.

It has been three years since the class was set up. However, what students can learn from this class is still quite limited.

"I've been learning for two years, most of the time, just typing. I can now type more than 20 characters per minute, in comparison with 6 when I started." the paper quoted one student as saying.

As learned from the student respondents, many parents supported their children joining the computer class, saying they could earn more if they have good computer skills, when working in big cities in the future.

Students in a remote mountainous area sit attentively in a "computer" classroom with lined up self-assembled black-and-white computers adapted from TV screen displays, and keyboards from learning sets, in Dupeng primary school in Dafengdong Village, Kaili city, southwestern China's Guizhou province. (File Photo: Xinhua)

(CRI.cn September 17, 2007)