CHANGNING District government will collaborate with East China Normal University to offer better education and medical services to its residents, officials said yesterday.

The downtown district and the university yesterday signed an agreement to cooperate on education, public health, scientific research and training for highly skilled professionals.

The two bodies will jointly build a kindergarten and a primary school and will renovate the existing Tianshan middle and high schools to establish a 15-year education institute affiliated to the university.

“The university will design the courses, train the teachers and send excellent graduates to work in the schools to enhance the education quality of Changning,” said Yao Qi of the district’s education bureau.

To improve the medical services, the university’s School of Life Sciences will establish a medical center with Changning Maternity and Infant Health Hospital to carry out more accurate prenatal checks, inherited disease diagnoses and gene sequencing.

The new test center aims to cap the rising demands with the nation’s new “two-child policy,” said Ge Min, director with the district’s commission of health and family planning.

The School of Psychology and Cognitive Science as well as the School of Life Sciences also plan to build a new research institute on psychology of the child with the Changning mental health center. They will jointly carry out mental evaluations on children below 6 years old in the district.

Early intervention will be taken to help those with high risks of mental diseases and developmental disabilities. The center will offer prenatal and postnatal guides to families.

“The doctors at Changning hospitals have little chance to take part in academic researches, and the cooperation will offer them more such opportunity to enhance their skills,” Ge said.

The university would carry out more clinical researches based on the medical resources of Changning, said Yan Lu, head of the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science.

The university was based in Changning District for a long period since it was established in 1950s.