Chen teaches a class, Feb 27, 2017. Chen had a teaching experience for over 15 years when she set up the Sunshine Primary School.  [Photo/VCG]

The Sunshine Primary School has turned out to be very popular for farmers, and it received over 300 students at its largest scale four years ago.

In July 2012, Chen was named one of the most remarkable teachers in rural China by China Central Television and Guangming Daily. And she was elected as a deputy member of Hefei Municipal People's Congress.

With the urbanization and improvement of family's living conditions in the past two years however, the school has seen a declining number of students as some of them were taken to cities by their parents.

This has caused a problem - it's becoming harder to keep the school running.

Chen said the school could barely make ends meet as one third of the students receive free tuition, with the remaining two thirds paying 2,900 yuan ($420) per semester. The school pays its 18 staff 40,000 yuan ($5,799) per month.

Moreover, the school is now over 300,000 yuan in debt as money has been used to renovate buildings and dormitories.

"It's pretty tough times right now, but I will fight (to protect the school) as long as there are students," Chen said.