Rural schools struggle with small classes (2)

Yang Xizai, 50, the only teacher at the Lufang village school in Yihuang county in Jiangxi province, gives a math class for 14 students, including seven pre-school children, five first-graders and two second-graders. [Photo/ Xinhua]

Wu believes the most important teaching technique is "patience and care."

"If you treat students like their mother does, they can feel it and they are willing to listen to you," she says.

Small schools are usually limited to students younger than the third grade. When they get older and can take better care of themselves, they move to more standard schools in village or county centers.

When she talks about students leaving every year, the talkative Wu became silent and her eyes red, but she says she is happy her students can go to better schools.

"I heard that students I once taught have been admitted by good universities almost every year in recent years. I am very proud of them," she says.

At Hougong village school, also in Jiangxi and about 370 kilometers from Fengxin school, there is only one teacher and one student.

The teacher, Zheng Zhengyin, has taught there since 1978, and over the years, his students have either moved to cities with their migrant worker parents or were sent to better schools in town.

Gong Weizhen became the only student last September. Her parents are working in a faraway city and her grandmother, who she lives with, is elderly and in poor health, and cannot send her to another school.

"I have to teach even if there is only one student," Zheng says. He has suffered cerebral thrombosis for years, and on many occasions he has gone to the hospital to receive treatment in the morning and come back to the school to teach in the afternoon.

Now, the biggest concern for both Wu and Zheng is who will succeed them after they retire. The shortage of teachers is a serious problem for these rural small schools.

As they are remotely located and have poor facilities, young teachers are unwilling to come. So far, most teachers in these schools either live nearby or are close to retirement.

Another problem is school facilities. Desks are old and broken, blackboards are just a section of wall painted black, the toilets are unclean and lights don't work.

However, the Ministry of Education said last December it will invest in school facilities and improve schools in rural areas.

In addition, more social organizations and volunteers have noticed these schools and have started to help. But there is still a lot to do.

Wu says the importance of education in rural schools should never be underestimated as it affects the future of millions of children.

"If the students need me and my health condition is OK, I am willing to keep teaching," she says.