Mother, son pass gaokao in Inner Mongolia

HOHHOT－At 43, Narna finally fulfilled her dream of going to college, and interestingly, she passed this year's college entrance exam, or gaokao, along with her son Tolga.

The family, members of the Mongolian ethnic group, live in Xinnenur village, a pasture area on the outskirts of Ulaanqab city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Twenty-three years ago, when Narna was preparing for the exam, her hearing-impaired mother developed a leg disease. Narna made the hard decision to forego the exam and return home to tend to her mother.

"I was my mother's only hope to live. At that difficult time, I had to be by her side," Narna said, adding that she has no regrets about her choice when seeing her mother now enjoying her old age healthily and peacefully.

After leaving school, Narna became a herder like her parents. Then she got married, had children and dedicated herself to her work.

But it is never too late to pursue one's dream, and Narna is lucky to have had her family's support to help her realize her college ambition.

Her son Tolga knew from an early age about his mother's dream. He encouraged her to take the gaokao with him and prepared books and materials for her to review.

Her husband Gahama took over all the housework and got his wife to sign up for a cram school in Hohhot, more than 200 kilometers away from home, to prepare for the examination in July.

During her six months of study at the school, Narna got up every day at 5 am and studied until midnight. She said she was often mistaken for a student's parent on campus.

Her enthusiasm for learning has never wavered. Thanks to a love of reading nurtured over the past 20 years, it was not particularly difficult for her to study liberal arts in the Mongolian language.

Walking out of the exam site, Narna was greeted by her family and friends with bouquets of flowers. On Aug 19, she received an admission letter from the Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics in Hohhot, confirming her admission to the university's tourism management department.

Over the next four years, Narna will be studying in the same city as her son, who will enter the physics department of Inner Mongolia University, a top-notch school in the region, in September. Tolga said his mother's persistence inspired him.

Narna wants to continue studying until she gets a doctorate.

"As a herder in the new era, we must keep pace with the times," she said. "The grassland and pastoral areas are still relatively backward, and the level of education is relatively low, compared with other regions. I hope to see more and more herders improve themselves with knowledge."

Xinhua