Students in tent classes after quake

First day back, teachers emphasize lessons showing gratitude for help

Only days after an earthquake struck, 12-year-old Hu Yibing got up 6 am excited about going back to school in a makeshift classroom in Shuanghe town of Changning, Sichuan province.

"My school was damaged in the earthquake and we were told on Thursday to attend a tent classroom that opened today," said the boy, a sixth grader from Shuanghe Central Primary School.

With its epicenter in Shuanghe, the earthquake struck at 10:55 pm on Monday, killing 13 people and injuring 226. Estimated direct economic losses have reached 8.89 billion yuan ($1.29 billion), according to the latest number from the Yibin city government.

Like Hu, many students have had classes suspended after the quake. By Thursday, over 11,000 students had resumed the classes, while more than 33,000 students in the counties of Gongxian and Changning, the areas hit most severely by the quake, were still waiting.

Hu and another 180 sixth graders will take a graduation examination on June 28.

"It's hot in the tent. But I'm happy to be with classmates I will miss after graduation," said Li Xiao, a 13-year-old student.

The tent was donated by the Yibin military subarea of the Sichuan Military Area and assembled by 30 militiamen, said Liu Xiao, head of the Changning County People's Military Department.

"They put themselves at risk in damaged classrooms to take desks and stools to the tent classroom," Liu said.

Hu Yibing's father Hu Zhiqiang, who works in a shoe factory in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, said the parents of all the sixth graders received a notice on WeChat that classes would resume.

"I didn't know how many sixth graders would come to the tent classroom as some of them were injured in the earthquake and some of their homes were damaged. But most of them came," said Guo Gang, the deputy headmaster.

As the tent could not fit all the students at once, it allowed 94 students into the tent and accommodated the rest at a home for the elderly in the town.

Music, fine arts and composition classes were given in the tent classroom.

In the music class, Zeng Yingtian taught the students how to sing As Resilient as Bamboo.

Written by a high school teacher in Changning, the song said quake-affected people would not cry, even if they shed tears, as they were uncrushed bamboo and green hope would arise from the debris.

In the fine arts and composition classes, students were told to draw pictures of people involved in earthquake relief and write words of gratitude. Some of the students sent their drawings to policemen and people in charge of quarantine.

Since the earthquake, the Changning quake zone has received donations of more than 100 million yuan from companies and individuals.

"The first three classes in the tent were aimed at teaching students to be grateful to people who helped," said Chinese teacher Hu Yan.