A school with only three students on Teacher’s Day

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Longtou Elementary School welcomed its 33rd Teachers’ Day on Sunday. However, few students were seen in the fully equipped classrooms. There were only 3 students came to school when the new semester started this month.

Longtou Elementary School is located in Xixiu County near Haikou, capital of south China’s Hainan Province. Four teachers are responsible for teaching courses such as Chinese, mathematics, ideological and moral cultivation, music, physical education, as well as science. The classrooms are fully equipped with instruction facility and the school even has a small basketball court.

One of the four teachers, Chen Shi’an, feels a little embarrassed because most of the time he only teaches one student a day. The 57-year-old has been teaching for more than 30 years and was transferred to the Longtou Elementary School four years ago.

Chen with one student in the classroom /Chinanews Photo

According to Chen, there was a huge reduction in the number of students in 2006, from about 200 students to 3 now. “Twenty years ago, there were nearly 400 students in the school, and many students started from here to go to the provincial and famous middle schools," he said.

When it comes to Teachers' Day, Chen says he misses the time when there were many students in school. He hopes every student he taught will be successful.

In recent years, with the development of urbanization, many students’ parents who are working in cities are also bringing their children to the cities. It is good news for those once left-behind children in the village but also bad news for these elementary schools near cities. Village schools such as Longtou Elementary School are finding it hard to enroll students in rural areas.

On the road of life, there must be a teacher guiding you in a period of time. On the occasion of the 33rd Teacher’s Day, do you have any words to express to one of your favorite teachers?

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