More than 1,200 students from Dujiangyan city, Sichuan Province will arrive in Shanghai in three days time to study at 24 local vocational schools.

They will enjoy free study along with subsidies, Shanghai Evening Post reported today.

The free study offer is one of Shanghai's projects helping with the reconstruction of Dujiangyan, one of the cities hit hard by the May 12 earthquake. About 80 percent of the homes of these students suffered serious damage or financial loss during the May quake, the report said.

The age of the students ranges from 14 to 16 and most have never visited Shanghai before.

One student He Qi still has metal pins in his right leg after he was squashed down by a collapsing school building during the quake. But he is confident about his future. "I'm very excited that I can come to Shanghai for study," he told the newspaper.

The earthquake killed a student Zhang Liwen's father and destroyed their house. Now the family lives on the meager income of her mother who does odd jobs. However Zhang is positive about the future and has been recruited by the Shanghai Zhenhua Foreign Trade Professional School.

All the students have attended a three-day course to learn about Shanghai before they depart. Students living below the poverty level will receive a daily 17-yuan subsidy and the others will receive a daily 10-yuan subsidy. All will get a 1,000-yuan study pension every year, according to the report.

They will receive Shanghai Education Commission certificates after graduation.

(Shanghai Daily August 25, 2008)