Elevated Education

In October 2011， China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation launched a “nesting campaign” to support the construction of dormitories at schools in poverty-stricken areas， and Tezi Central School was amongst them. Not long ago， I joined other volunteers from the foundation Love Is Warm to pay a visit to the school.

It took us three hours to drive from downtown Xichang， Sichuan Province， to the county seat of Puig， 2，000， meters above sea level. The entire trip traversed rugged winding mountain roads drenched in fog and rain. The only means of transportation to the county seat was a vehicle.

The road from the county seat to Tezi Central School in Puig County was even bumpier. It took us four hours to crawl up a 40-kilometer mountain path.

The school now enrolls 305 students， half of whom are left-behind children. The majority of students are from the Yi ethnic minority.

The school is poorly equipped. The dormitory is designed for 89 students. Most of the time， two students share a single bed. The students in second and third grades are 12 to 13 years old. Every day， they hike for an hour to school. “Some can rarely arrive before classes begin，” remarks one teacher， Yang， who has taught there for many years.“Tardiness is very common. Classes have to be rescheduled accordingly. It gets worse when it rains or snows.”

We brought gifts， including school supplies， school bags， caps， gloves， and snacks for the students. To our surprise， every student chose paper， pens， and school bags without hesitating. “They cherish every educational opportunity because they hail from poor families，” explained Jijierri， the Yi prin- cipal. “That’s why they will always choose school supplies and bags over snacks.”

A key school in the area， Tezi Central School is staffed with more than ten teachers， who live dozens of miles away. In this region， people live on what nature bestows them， and those who reside in the depths of the mountains have few choices to spend money anyway.

We felt sorry about the situation there， and hope to see improvements when we return. The new dorm is already under construction and we hope it will be completed soon.