CTG Lights up Education in Daliang Mountains

Lying deeply and quietly in the Daliang Mountains of Southwest China's Sichuan province, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture is one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the country.

The mountains isolate the region from the outside world not only geographically but also in terms of its economic development and education.

Because of the inconvenient traffic and lagging economy, very few outstanding education talents would like to stay in the region.

Given the increasing number of students, a lack of teachers has been a main problem for the area's education development.

China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG), joining hands with the local education bureau and education funds, has conducted a voluntary activity to recruit volunteer graduate teachers to support education in remote villages of the prefecture since 2018.

The young teachers are windows to connect the Liangshan children with the outside world and enlighten their lives.

In some villages like Huangbai primary school in Caoyuan county of Huili town, every teacher has to shoulder all subjects alone.

They opened special teaching courses and unique lessons of singing, gymnastics and drawing to make it easier for students to learn knowledge and enliven their spare time.

At the center primary school of Xixiang county of Xichang, Peng Wei shoulders the music lessons of all eight classes from grades one to six.

Peng was one of the volunteer teachers. She applied for a classroom to teach pupils music when she found the children are keen to take music lessons. She also decorated the room together with the children.

Since then, the school has been filled with music, especially during the rest periods between each class.

The pupils like singing and dancing with her. They also gave Peng an Yi ethnic name, "Nizhamo", meaning kind and pretty girl who loves smiling.

In addition to teaching and caring at school, the teachers also need to visit the children's homes regularly to learn about their growing environment and help make up domestic warmth, particularly for the left-behind children.

To some children, the teachers are like their moms, teaching them knowledge and taking care of their lives.

Li Qiqi, a volunteer teacher at the Huangbai Primary School of Caoyuan county, Huili town, was surprised when she was asked whether she could be called "mom" by her students in mid-November 2019.

"That was a reward of my two-months teaching here," she said. "I will take more care of them, my children."

Another volunteer teacher, Gong Mei, has a similar story.

She felt bitter when she realized that her students had no idea what moon-cake tastes like the day before the Mid-autumn Festival in 2019 when she reminded them to have some that night.

Therefore, she asked someone else to bring some back from the town for the students and told the children the traditional Chinese story of Chang'e.

After the story, a girl told Gong that she was as beautiful as her mom and she wished to dream of her that night.

Later, Gong visited the girl's family but found that she lived with her grandma and her parents had passed away.

From that time, Gong decided to care of the girl as her mom.

As the year 2020 is crucial in winning the anti-poverty battle, CTG will continue its efforts to support education in the region. The company plans to select another 200 volunteer teachers to work in the region.

Students at a hope project primary school at Miaopu village of Xiangzhang have a sports event. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

Children at the Huangbai primary school warm themselves together at the dorm of Gong Mei, their teacher. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

Volunteer teacher Peng Wei and pupils sing and dance at the central primary school of Xixiang county. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Zhang Tianyuan)