return to pamir and let more children leave pamir
2024-09-11
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
xinhua news agency, urumqi, september 10th, title: return to the pamirs and let more children leave the pamirs
xinhua news agency reporters dai ziluan, ma kai and guzalinur tayirjiang
on the eve of this year's teachers' day, 35-year-old tajik teacher xiandi milanxia, who teaches in taxkorgan tajik autonomous county, xinjiang (hereinafter referred to as "ta county"), was named an advanced education worker in the county by the education and science and technology bureau of taxkorgan county. as the morning sun reflected the red snow-capped mountains, he, now the principal, welcomed his 11th teachers' day at dabudar township primary school.
located at the eastern foot of the pamir plateau, with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, tashkurgan county is known as the "county on the clouds". the dabudar township primary school where xiandi teaches is deep in the mountains and is one of the most remote township primary schools in tashkurgan county.
becoming a teacher has been cindy's dream for more than 20 years, when he was a student at this primary school.
at that time, it was notoriously difficult for children in dabudar township to go to school. the herders lived in the deep mountains, and transportation was extremely inconvenient. especially in the most remote resikamu village, children had to ride camels or horses over the shanda pass at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters and wade through the turbulent and cold yarkand river to go to school in the township or county.
xindi said that studying is the shortest way for children in the mountains to go out, and the most common words teachers told them was "study hard and go out to see the world in the future." this advice also became xindi's goal, because in his eyes, the teacher "knows the most people and things, and is the most powerful person in the whole village."
in addition to the encouragement from his parents and teachers, xindi also received help from strangers outside the mountains. in 1996, when he enrolled in school, the xinjiang branch of china construction bank began to support the construction of dabudar township primary school, building classrooms for the children, donating materials, and providing scholarships for children like xindi who went out to study.
after graduating from primary school, xindi went to the county seat of taxkorgan to finish junior high school and high school, and then was admitted to bayinguoleng vocational and technical college. taking the train to school, doing homework on the computer...xindi, who left the mountains of the pamir plateau, unlocked one "first time in life" after another.
the world outside the mountains is vast and interesting, but after graduation, cindy still chose to return to the mountains. "i will tell the children about the world i have seen and help more children get out of it, just like my teachers and the people who helped me back then," cindy said.
in early 2014, xindi returned to dabudar township primary school as a computer teacher. "i never thought that a primary school in the township could have a computer classroom before." xindi said that thanks to the government's continuous investment and social welfare assistance, the school's teaching and student accommodation hardware facilities are much better than before.
cindy milanxia teaches computer classes to students. (photo provided by the interviewee)
in order to optimize the allocation of educational resources, starting in 2008, tashi county concentrated all students in grades 4 to 6 in tashi county primary school, which has better hardware facilities and more teachers, so that the children can enjoy better education. since then, dabudar township primary school has only retained students in grades 1 to 3.
"the teaching staff is much more sufficient than before." xindi said that compared to when he was in school, there are fewer grades in the school now, but there are more teachers, many of whom have gone to college in other places.
during the years that xiandi has been teaching, the software and hardware of dabudar township primary school have continued to improve. in 2019, tashi county launched the "banbantong" distance education system, so that children in dabudar township primary school can not only read the same book as children in the county primary school, but also take the same class.
cindy milanxia and her students in the school's music classroom. (photo provided by the interviewee)
due to the scattered residence of herders, more than 60 of the 167 students in the school live on campus, 21 of whom are from resikamu village. although the asphalt road can lead directly to the village, it still takes several hours to drive, so the children can usually only go home during the winter and summer vacations or short holidays.
cindy and the teachers often lived in the school, giving extra lessons to the boarding students, accompanying them to eat, bathe, play games, and set up a greenhouse to grow various vegetables for the children. over time, the children began to call cindy "cindy dad".
while xindi was named an advanced education worker in the county, dabudar township primary school was named an advanced collective. this was an excellent teacher's day gift, but xindi was also looking forward to another gift.
"the first batch of children i taught in dabudar township are now basically attending high school in the county, and in a year or two some of them will be admitted to university," said xindi. "to see the children i taught leave the mountains and go further is the gift i want most."
