Schoolchildren in China’s Sichuan province have recently been given a helping hand with their education after images appeared of them, aged between 6 and 15-years-old, scaling an 800 metre ladder, made of bamboo and vines, in order to get to school.  The children live in the mountain top village of Atule’er and attend a boarding school in a town at the bottom of the cliffs, only returning home every other weekend, due to the dangers involved in making the journey up and down the cliff face.

Village chief Er Dijiang told reporters that people have died after falling off the ladder, which had suffered from rot in the past and required a lot of risky upkeep.  The prefectural government had to intervene and proposed replacing the old ladder with a new one made of steel poles, like the type used in scaffolding.  The new ladder has cost around $150,000 to build, and features handrails to make the journey up and down even safer, as all the 400 villagers rely on the access route to sell their produce, which includes potatoes, walnuts and chilies, at markets in the area.

Now that Atule’er has a sturdier and more reliable route to the outside world, the children can travel to school without parents worrying about their safety, and the whole community will benefit from the improvements to the ladder; their only link to the towns below, on which they rely for education, medical treatment and places to buy and sell produce.