BEIJING - A welfare program launched its fourth annual donation here on Saturday, and will sponsor 103 students from poor families in poverty-stricken areas of southwestern Guizhou Province to attend secondary schools in Beijing for six years.

The Chunhui Action-Zhigong student cultivating program was jointly initiated by the Central Committee of the China Zhigong Party, a non-communist political party, the Guizhou provincial committee of the Communist Youth League, and APTECH, a Beijing-based training company.

Over the past four years, donations worth 76.5 million yuan ($12.5 million) have been raised under the program to help 333 children from landlocked Guizhou study in Beijing.

Dong Qi, principal of the Peking University Affiliated Experimental School, the host school said colorful campus life in the school has made these previously shy kids more optimistic and confident and boosted their all-around capabilities.