Pan Jiuren tutors students in class at Central Primary School in Tashan Yao Township, Changning City, Hunan Province (photo taken on November 25, 2021).
Published by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yin Ming)
On September 17, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium of grassroots representatives in Changsha, Hunan Province, asking the people about the economic and social development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. 10 representatives made speeches one after another, and Pan Jiuren, the vice principal of Tashan Yao Township Central Primary School, was one of them. He reported to the general secretary the "shortcomings" of education in remote ethnic areas: first, there is a shortage of teachers, and there is a structural shortage of teachers; second, the conditions are difficult, and good teachers cannot be retained.
"The problem you raised is very practical." General Secretary Xi Jinping responded, "Yesterday I went to the first primary school in Wenming Yao Township, Rucheng County. There are teaching buildings, dormitories and canteens in the school, nutritious lunch is free , the children are very cheerful, which shows that since the reform and opening up, we have basically solved the problem of universalization of compulsory education, but the problem of unbalanced educational resources has become prominent. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we must focus on solving this problem and study it carefully.”
Starting from the urban area of Changning City, Hunan Province, at the foot of the mountain, the car drove along the mountain road for more than an hour. I don’t know how many sharp turns and steep slopes I climbed. The Central Primary School of Tashan Yao Township finally appeared in front of my eyes.
"We have high mountains and steep slopes here, and the road is not easy to walk. It's a place where the wind blows halfway up the mountain." Pan Jiuren, a sturdy and dark-skinned person, said while gesturing the trend of the hillside. In 1993, at the age of 17, he followed in his father's footsteps to the three-foot podium, and he has been doing it for nearly 30 years. This "windy place" has witnessed the persistence of two generations. Will
have any teachers who don't come? Can the new teacher stay? In the past, before and after school started, Pan Jiuren felt the most uneasy in his heart.
"It's not that we can't keep a good teacher here, but we can't keep a lot of teachers." Pan Jiuren sighed. The main sources of teachers in the school are public-funded normal students and "post-post" interns. When the contract service period expires, most of them have to go to the city. There were two teachers who came to do an internship. They saw the school in a mountain valley, and they stayed for one night without saying goodbye. Some young teachers have been working for three or four years and still fail to persevere. "I would rather go to work in other places than teach in the mountains."
2 has more than 180 teachers and more than 180 students. This was the most difficult time seven or eight years ago.
makes teachers willing to come and stay, not only relying on feelings, but also improving the treatment and environment as much as possible.
"In the past two years, we have tried our best to keep the teacher's heart." Pan Jiuren said, "Yao Township is poor in the mountains, and only if you study more can you have a future. If a family can get out of one child, a village will have hope." In his desk, there is a stack of speech materials, which are all about increasing the allowances for teachers in alpine mountainous areas, improving the treatment of teachers in ethnic minority schools in townships and villages, and tilting the evaluation of professional titles to schools in ethnic minority areas and remote rural teaching points... As a member of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Pan Jiuren has been researching and appealing for the past two years, and many suggestions have been adopted. When
took a walk in the evening, Pan Jiuren often talked to the teachers and paid attention to what difficulties there were. What everyone reported the most was the inconvenience of communication in the mountains and the lack of express delivery.
In the past, there was a blind spot for the signal in the mountains, and whenever there was heavy snow, the bamboo fell down and pressed the wires, and the phone could not be received. With the continuous appeal of him and other CPPCC members, , this year, 6 new mobile communication base stations were built in the village. Teachers can use network resources and make video calls with the city. The problem of
express, a new task list is listed. "Young teachers have to carry daily necessities from the bottom of the mountain in large and small bags when they come back every weekend." Pan Jiuren said that solving these problems one by one can make teachers feel at ease. After the
symposium with grassroots representatives, he returned to Yao Township with the general secretary's entrustment, and Pan Jiuren felt more energetic. "What I reported to the general secretary was what I had in my heart for many years. After that day, I even decided that the future is promising." Pan Jiuren told reporters that this made him firm in his idea of cultivating more talents for Yaoxiang Mountain Village. .
One week before the start of this fall, Pan Jiuren sat down with the principal and the dean to discuss the issue of teachers. He remembered that Pan Wei, a student he taught before, was a public-funded normal student who graduated from Changsha, just in time to do her work.
"Let's go to the school with me." After a day's work, Pan Jiuren arrived at Panwei's house at 9:00 p.m. and solemnly sent an invitation to the students.
On the morning of the second day, the sun had just climbed over the mountains and the heat had not yet risen. Two "Teachers Pan", one big and one small, appeared at the Central Primary School in Tashan Yao Township. As soon as
entered the school gate, Pan Wei noticed the change: the former dirt playground of
, "one step with mud" in rainy days, has now hardened the ground and is clean and bright. The "wall" made by the teacher made of barbed wire was once smashed by the children, and now the newly built wall is neat and firm. The newly built teachers' dormitory has water heaters and flush toilets. There is no need to carry buckets to take a bath, and there is no need to find someone to dig out the dry toilets.
walked into the classroom, and Pan Jiuren used the hands that chopped bamboo and planed wood as teaching aids to tap the touch screen skillfully. Pan Wei saw that the cement blackboard was replaced by an electronic whiteboard.
"The changes in the past two years have been very big. It's really jumping from 'branch basket' to 'rice basket'!" The "post-00" girl smiled knowingly when she heard the teacher speak her native dialect.
During the summer vacation this year, the construction team came to renovate the school building and playground, and Pan Jiuren was not idle. He often rides a motorcycle from his home early in the morning and drives over 20 miles of mountain roads to keep an eye on the progress and quality of the construction. When
started school, the school was repainted. Pan Jiuren's heart became more at ease. Panwei, who walked out of the mountains, "returned" and became a rural teacher ; in Tashan Yao Township Central Primary School, "post-90s" and "post-00s" teachers account for three-quarters of the total, and there are full-time music, sports and beauty teachers.
"In the past, some teachers pronounced 'Duolaimi shivering' as '12345', and this should not happen again." Pan Jiuren said with a smile. When
showed reporters the photos on his mobile phone, he showed a rare pride: 20 students in Tashan have been admitted to key high schools this year, and they can "advertise" outside!
In the new semester, the teachers have already arrived, but some teachers did not stay for various reasons. There is a long way to go to solve the problem of unbalanced educational resources. For the teacher's "willingness to come and stay", Pan Jiuren and his colleagues are still making unremitting efforts.
The sun sets and the cool wind blows through the cedar forest and bamboo sea. The reporter asked Pan Jiuren, how do you understand the profession of rural teachers?
"Students are like their own children." Pan Jiuren thought about it for a while, and said in a calm and firm tone that we are just a street lamp that is not so bright, there is no dazzling light, but we have been working hard to illuminate the way for the children to move forward. brighter.
(reporters Bai Tiantian, Liu Wangmin) Xinhua News Agency, Changsha, October 6th
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