Hospital schools bring hope and health amid adversity

Sensitive approach

The classes are no different from those at regular schools, except that there are some things the teachers must never say.

The first is that they must never use gender-specific titles because many of the children have lost their hair after long-term chemotherapy, which makes it difficult to tell their gender by appearance. There have been occasions where volunteers have mistakenly called a little girl "little brother".

"Communicating with these children is different from physically healthy children. Because they have lost their hair, they are very sensitive, especially the little girls. They are really self-conscious about being bald," Shi said.

"When they lose their hair, it is very difficult to tell if they are boys or girls, so I always tell new volunteers not to use gender-specific titles such as 'little brother' or 'little sister'. If you confuse their gender, it hurts them very much."

She added that the best approach is to remember every child's name, which is also a way of showing respect.

The second thing the teachers must avoid mentioning is death. Data from the China Children Leukemia Diagnosis and Treatment Registration Management System, administered by the National Health Commission, show that there are about 8,000 new cases of leukemia in children age 14 and younger each year.

At a school established at the Beijing Lu Daopei Hospital, which specializes in treating blood diseases and tumors, one child only managed to attend classes for a week before he died. Teachers working at these special schools know that they will have to cope with such news some day.

"We just try not to remember these bad things," said Li Jing, a supervisor at the school close to the Beijing Children's Hospital.

Shi said the first time parents gave her the bad news about their child, she couldn't bear it and began to doubt if her job had any meaning. "I thought that if the children would eventually die, what I was doing didn't seem to make any difference," she said.

But after one child's death, the parents contacted her and said that during the last chemotherapy session, the young patient had endured great pain, but the only thing the child looked forward to every day was attending Shi's online classes.

Although the child was too weak to sit upright and join the conversation, just listening to the chatter of the other children provided hope and comfort. "As a teacher, I was really touched and healed when I heard that," Shi said.

When Shi teaches, she pays attention to the development of good habits among the students.