Fifty-Seven graduates majoring in community works sat a national test in Guangzhou to apply for certificates as professional community workers Saturday, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

The exam will be held again in November. Examinees with good grades will obtain certificates this week and become China's first certificated community workers.

Guangzhou currently has 300,000 to 500,000 community workers, including part-time volunteers and full-time workers.

There are 20,000 government-employed community workers.

However, these people's education backgrounds were quite different from university professors to primary school graduates. Most were middle-aged or elderly workers who had no college education but had rich life experience.

"Apart from a loving heart, a community worker should acquire some professional knowledge to better help the disadvantaged people," said Luo Guancui of Zhongshan University.

A community worker surnamed Wang who had years of experiences said she was worried about the new national test and certificate as she was almost illiterate.

"People like Wang do not need to worry about losing their jobs," said Gao Ruiyou, a department head of the Guangzhou Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau. "We just want to make community workers more professional."

(Shenzhen Daily June 13, 2005)