Teachers honored for their contribution in rural areas

Zhang Yugun with pupils at Heihumiao Primary School, in Zhenping county, Nanyang. [Photo/news.dahe.cn]

Two primary school teachers from Henan province received national and provincial moral teacher awards at a ceremony, on Sept 9, a day before the Teachers' Day, for their generous work in a mountainous part of Zhenping county, near the city of Nanyang.

Zhang Yugun and Cao Pengfei both sacrificed their opportunity to enjoy a better life in the city, after graduation, but chose the poor countryside instead. Zhang finished normal school, in 2001, and had great hopes for students in the village of Heihumiao, in remote Funiu Mountain.

Over a 10-year period, Zhang has seen many teachers come and go because of the poor conditions, but he held onto his position and made every effort to educate students and help them out of difficulties.

Zhang was always serving his students and his motorcycle kept ferrying textbooks and exercise books from the city to the school via rugged mountain roads. And to provide better care for students whose parents had left the village to find work in the city, he asked his wife to give up her job outside and help cook and do laundry for his students.

At the same time, Cao has persisted in his job as a middle school teacher in the town of Sishan, where they lacked teachers, after his graduating in July 1996, and has taught Chinese, English and art, and at one time, was an English teacher at five primary schools at the same time.

It's thanks to educators such as Zhang and Cao that students in mountainous rural areas have access to knowledge and hopes for a brighter future.