Gun Shilan receives a subsidy of 5,000 yuan to fund her studies. She is the only girl in Gaoqiu village who has continued her studies in senior high. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

An educational fund initiated by Xiacheng district in Hangzhou to help girls in remote mountain areas in Liping county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, was put into practice recently.

A total of 2.25 million yuan ($318,000) will help girls from 12 villages. Each of them can get a subsidy of between 3,000 to 8,000 yuan to help them manage educational fees from middle school to university. The fund is planned to help 200 girls from the region in 2020.

Girls in the region commonly have to follow "son preference", a traditional practice mostly expressed as discriminations against women through health, nutritional and educational differences between boys and girls.

The educational fund targeting girls is to help the youngsters get educated, pursue their dreams and change their destinies.

"Poverty alleviation through education is the fundamental way to break local families' impoverished situations that are transmitted from generation to generation," said Liu Ying, Party secretary of Xiacheng district.

Gun Shilan is the only girl in Gaoqiu village to have continued her studies in senior high. She received a subsidy of 5,000 yuan, to encourage her to pursue her dreams.