(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-01-23 11:25

Bordering a bamboo forest and along some mountain paths are three shabby rooms made of stones. This is the only primary school of Mazhuang, a remote mountainous village in central China’s Henan Province, one of the country’s poorest provinces.

This is where Xu Yunling, the only teacher in this small village, has taught for the past 22 years. And in that period not a single student has ever dropped school. Some went onto high school or college; and a few even gained their Ph.D.

Graduated from senior high school and taught for two years, Xu took over the class of about 10 children as a temporary substitute in 1986. But the substitute lasted for 22 years.

Coming from the eight neighboring villages, the several school-aged children are divided into three levels, from pre-school to grade two. Xu taught in the only classroom and gives them assignments after every class. The subjects were not only compulsory ones, but including music and physical education.

Paid with slender wages of 32 yuan (US$4) every month in 1986 when she started teaching, Xu got small incremental raises. In 2007, she was only paid 200 yuan ($27.6).

Thought paid little, she tried to subsidize tuition for some of the poorer students, to ensure every school-aged child was educated. And for her efforts, Xu has been awarded the honor of “Excellent Teacher” for her contribution to education several times.

Still living in shanty, Xu used all her and her husband’s 3,000 yuan ($438) in savings to build new classrooms for the students in 1993. Mining and carrying stones for construction all by themselves, Xu and her husband built three stone walled classrooms near her ramshackle cabin.

In 2005, Xu’s son lost three fingers on his right hand from an accident; five days later, her daughter was diagnosed with a cyst on her thyroid gland and needed urgent surgery. As a result, Xu’s family owed 40,000 yuan ($5,517).

A friend asked Xu to work at a kindergarten in Beijing, with a monthly pay of 1,000 yuan ($138), the amount equal to her whole year’s earnings in this remote school. However, Xu still hesitated on the day of her departure. When she heard her students call her “teacher”, she stayed.

Showing her unswerving dedication, Xu told a reporter, “Everything will be OK in my family. But those children cannot do without me. I won’t let any of them drop out of school.”