Program puts university graduates in rural schools in less-developed autonomous region
Liu Xuan graduated from a top university this summer, but he didn't look for a job. Instead, he chose to volunteer as a teacher at a rural middle school in northwestern China's less-developed Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
Liu, 24, is one of more than 100 volunteers whom the University of Science and Technology of China has sent to Ningxia as well as Qinghai province since 1999. The students have participated in the program after completing their undergraduate studies.
Liu graduated from the Hefei university's geophysics department and now teaches computer courses to four classes of students at the Hui People's Middle School of Haiyuan County in Ningxia.
Once a referee for his university's soccer association, he also teaches soccer after classes - "not just how to kick the ball, but more important, the rules, which have never been taught by any other teachers before", he said.
He also shows the students tennis matches on a computer, something new to them, since there are no courts in their community.
Volunteer offers computer classes, soccer lessons
"I just want to let them know more about the world, let them know there are so many things they may want to try out there, and they have to study very hard for better development chances in the future," Liu said.
"When you look into the children's curious eyes, you will know that they want to know everything you know."
Wang Mei, 22, was one of the beneficiaries of the program nine years ago. Now a junior student at North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, she was taught by one of Liu's predecessors.
"The volunteers, who are better educated and more knowledgeable, have opened for us a window through which we see the world," Wang said. "The professional teachers here ... lack updated knowledge of the outside world. It was the young volunteers who brought us vigor and vitality."
Wang said she had long dreamed of leaving her hometown to see the outside world, but didn't know how to make it happen. "It was the volunteer teacher who made this dream of mine stronger and who also made me realize that the most practical way is studying hard," she said.
Liu and his fellow volunteers receive a university subsidy of 1,350 yuan ($212) per month. Besides teaching the assigned courses and doing other voluntary work, they also visit the students' homes on weekends.
"The purpose of the home visits is to find the households that need financial help from my alma mater," Liu said.
Liu said he would likely go back to the university for further study after his year of volunteering is over. "I believe the experience here will have everlasting influences on my life," Liu said.
Contact the writers through zhulixin@chinadaily.com.cn

2015-10-13, China Daily, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2015-10/13/content_22168193.htm