New semester begins for school of three in SW China's Guizhou

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 1, 2021, shows the teaching center in Danggan village, Paidiao town, Danzhai county in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Photo/People's Daily Online）

On Sept. 1, 2021, Yang Changjun and his two first graders welcomed their new semester in Danggan village, Paidiao town, Danzhai county, within a mountainous area of southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Yang Changjun, 43, has been teaching in his hometown at the Danggan village primary school for 20 years since 2001, having returned after completing a teaching post in the county.

In 2012, after the school in Danzhai county switched from a village-level elementary school to the combined operating mode of a village-town school, in view of the special location of Danggan village, the education department decided to keep the elementary school running, but turned it into a countryside learning center instead for young first-graders to have a place to start their formal studies. After finishing first grade, they are expected to then go on to second grade at the Central Primary School in Paidiao town.

This year, Yang became the only teacher at Danggan village, teaching first-grade students Chinese, mathematics, moral education, physical education, art and other courses.

Besides teaching, he prepares nutritious lunches for his students. Over the past 20 years, Yang has sent away a batch of "graduates", more than a dozen of whom were later admitted to junior colleges inside and outside the province.

This autumn when the new semester began, the Danggan village teaching center welcomed the enrollment of two school-aged girls, held a flag-raising ceremony, and had their first lesson of the new semester. "Over the past few years, I have been accustomed to the teaching life in the mountain village. This teaching center is meant for children to have a school to learn from, so I will stick to where I am for them," Yang said.