Pioneer


  post-80s female teachers take root in the countryside for 10 years to "light up the stars" for children

The children of Furong Primary School warm up on the playground.

Liu Manting is taking a Chinese class.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

  On the first day of school this year, Liu Manting spent the 60-kilometer "return run".

  Although Liu Manting had planned the schedule for the day long ago, when teachers, students and parents swarmed over, she was still "busy to a pot of porridge."

To this end, she ran back and forth four times between the two schools where she worked.

  In this hustle and bustle, there are parents who speak very rudely and want to give her "off the horse"; there are young special post teachers who come from the city and are unfamiliar with the place; there are children who are not good to line up for dinner and quarrel... In her words, "It is maddening to lose any link in the chain."

  Liu Manting is a post-80s special post teacher and the principal of Furong Primary School, Madian Town, Huoqiu County, Lu'an City, Anhui Province.

On August 28 this year, she concurrently served as the principal of Xixu Primary School in the same town, undertaking the teaching and management tasks of two rural primary schools.

  Madian Town is located in the west of Huoqiu County, Lu'an City. Furong Primary School and Xixu Primary School are divided into the north and south of Madian Town.

The two schools are 15 kilometers apart, and you have to drive back and forth through national roads, provincial roads, and rural dirt roads. The masters in the village are most familiar with the roads, and it takes about 40 minutes to drive one way.

  Many people do not understand the fact that Liu Manting is also the principal of two rural schools.

  People who are not familiar with her talked behind her back: "Xiao Liu is young, and one person occupies the position of two principals." People who knew her persuaded her that Furong Elementary School had finally improved, so why bother to take another one. "Tough bones to gnaw."

  But Liu Manting feels that she wants to take root here and be a person who "lights up the stars" for rural children.

For the first time, a female teacher came to Furong teaching site

  Liu Manting is a native of Huoqiu.

After passing the special post teacher exam in 2012, Liu Manting returned to the Furong teaching site where she had studied and became a rural teacher.

However, when she returned to her alma mater and wanted to do something for the education in her hometown, the reality gave her a head.

  There are no walls, playgrounds, or even school gates. Weeds grow on the huge open space of the Furong teaching site. In front of the three brick houses that are under maintenance, the chickens raised by villagers are pacing near piles of stones and sand.

Before reaching the school gate, Liu Manting's newly bought high heels were cut out by stones.

  Seeing the dilapidated campus, Liu Manting was stunned: "If no one reminds me, I can't tell that this is a school at all."

  In 2012, many teaching sites in Madian Town were withdrawn and merged one after another. The 53-year-old Furong teaching site has only 28 students left, and 5 old teachers and 1 old principal are here to stay.

  "We are all about to retire, I hope you can take the baton." Qi Youjiang, the old principal, told Liu Manting that she was the first female teacher since the establishment of the Furong Teaching Center and the only young teacher in the school.

  Looking at the Furong teaching point in front of her, Liu Manting didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

No problem can match the word "reality"

  In 2015, the Furong teaching site was upgraded to Furong Primary School, and Liu Manting, who had expired the special post, chose to continue to serve.

One year later, Liu Manting became the principal of Furong Primary School.

This year, she was 29 years old and was the youngest principal in the town at that time.

  "This is my alma mater, I can't let it collapse in my hands!" Liu Manting said.

  After becoming the principal, the first thing Liu Manting did was a home visit.

She decided to use a "stupid way" to analyze the problem of student loss.

  After a round of home visits, Liu Manting could tell the family situation of every child in the school.

She found that the collection of problems varied, but generally related to the school's hardware facilities and teachers.

  Liu Manting decided to "rebuild" the campus.

The school was abandoned for a long time. Some villagers shoveled the trees that the school had planted for decades and set up a chicken farm in the open space.

  For this reason, Liu Manting did not "fight" with the folks in the village, but as long as it was the land on the campus, she would not give up an inch.

  "There is nothing that can't save face. If you occupy the school's land, you should quit. Don't try to fool a question from me." Liu Manting said.

  There is a circumstance among the workers of the local construction company: "This young female headmaster of Furong Primary School can't tolerate a little sloppy construction."

  Wells, playgrounds, canteens, washrooms... In the past few years, Furong Elementary School has "changed its old look to a new one", and Furong Elementary School has become the "most beautiful building" in the eyes of many villagers.

But in the hearts of many young teachers, rural schools still lack attractiveness.

  "Before the beginning of each semester, I am most afraid of receiving a call from a teacher. When I call, I often want to transfer." Liu Manting said frankly that at Furong Elementary School, the teacher who left the fastest only taught for one semester.

  In addition to improving the school's hardware facilities, Liu Manting used his brains elsewhere.

It is big enough to equip each teacher with an office computer, and small enough to prepare bedding, towels, slippers, thermos in advance, and a piece of cake, a fish, and a bowl of longevity noodles for her birthday. She tried her best to keep things ahead.

  "I just want to use action to tell them that it's good here. I hope they can stay for another year, even one more semester." Liu Manting said.

  Material security is only the first step.

In Liu Manting's view, opening up channels for teachers to obtain external information or support, so that teachers can have a sense of accomplishment and gain in rural schools, can truly stir the "spring of water" of the rural teacher team.

  In 2020, together with 773 primary and secondary schools in Lu'an City, Furong Elementary School will introduce "smart classrooms" to enrich the teaching form and resource library through informatization, network resources, and multimedia technology in teaching and research.

Liu Manting found that young teachers have a natural sense of intimacy with education informatization.

"In the past, the rural environment was closed and the access to knowledge was limited, but information technology has broken this point. From famous teacher classes to high-quality courseware resources, rural teachers have an extra window into the world."

  In an open class evaluation in Lu'an City, with the aid of information-based teaching methods, Luo Jieyu, a young teacher of Furong Primary School, won the second prize of the city's mathematics quality class, and the teacher won a county-level award.

Looking forward to more youth peers in rural education

  How to realize the modern transformation and high-quality development of rural small-scale schools is what Liu Manting thinks about day and night.

  She found that the students came from different families, but they grew up in the same soil. Most of their parents were not well-educated and often went out to work, and most of the children were raised by grandparents with lower education levels.

  "The lack of parental company has cast a gray for the childhood of rural children. We should give children a colorful childhood, improve their overall quality, and help them broaden their horizons." Liu Manting said.

  In 2018, Furong Primary School held the first Children's Day Art Performance.

Liu Manting led the teachers to set up the stage, rented a stereo, and invited professional photographers. The parents found it strange.

She remembered that on the day of the performance, all the parents of the school came.

In recent years, Furong Primary School has also hosted the first campus sports meet and the first broadcast gymnastics competition.

  In daily teaching, Liu Manting realized that rural children have no shortage of enthusiasm for learning, and what they lack is the opportunity to go out.

To this end, she discussed with the teachers and cleverly used educational information technology in some chapters of daily classroom teaching to build a bridge for students to observe the outside world.

  "When I was in the lesson of Watching the Tide, I asked the students, who have been to the Qiantang River to see the tide? Only one student raised his hand." Liu Manting said, when the video and pictures of the Qiantang River tide appeared on the screen, The children are very happy, as if they have drawn their distance from the world.

  Sometimes, Liu Manting seems to forget that she is also a young man.

After becoming a principal, hobbies such as shopping, watching movies, and traveling have become "luxuries."

She told herself, "The countryside has the beauty of the countryside."

  Ten years of rural education has allowed her to see different cross-sections of society, which are rich and true.

  In fact, regarding work, Liu Manting is not without options.

More than one school in the town has offered her an invitation, but she politely declined.

  Liu Manting and her husband in Henan live apart all the year round.

Her husband also persuaded her more than once to transfer her children to schools with better conditions in Henan.

After several ideological struggles, Liu Manting still kept her child in Furong Primary School.

  "If the principal's children are gone, who wants to stay?" Liu Manting asked rhetorically.

  Liu Manting's sincerity in exchange for the trust of young teachers.

Today, 9 of the 10 teachers in Furong Primary School are young people, and some teachers' homes are even as far away as Shucheng County, Lu'an City.

The number of students in the school has gradually recovered, from more than 50 people when she first took over, to more than 200 people this semester.

  After serving as the principal of Xixu Primary School, Liu Manting started her new journey of rural education.

Fortunately for her, compared to when she took over Furong Primary School, more young teachers became her peers.

  After 10 years of teaching, Liu Manting has also grown into a national outstanding special post teacher.

She said that she wanted to be a person who "lighted the stars" for rural children and led the rural schools to "return to youth."

  Cheng Honghe, China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Wang Haihan and Wang Lei Source: China Youth Daily