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china news service, shigatse, september 13 (mian zhenggongque) "ethnic groups should help and care for each other and respect each other's customs." when 12-year-old mima cangjue was selected by the teacher to answer a question, she spoke out her thoughts in one breath. at the nine-year school in zhada county, tibet, students in class 2 of grade 6 are learning about ethnic unity. whenever teacher dawa yuzhen asked a question, the students raised their hands and answered enthusiastically.

teacher dawa yuzhen is teaching at the nine-year school in zhada county, tibet. photo by gong que

zhada county is located in the southwestern border of ngari prefecture in china and is the county with the smallest population in china. it is the "roof of the roof of the world" with an average altitude of 4,500 meters. the xiangquan river valley is surrounded by endless earth forests. the nine-year school is located in this plateau oasis, where education is like a spring breeze, moistening things silently and growing in the local area.

it is understood that the school has a total of 19 classes in the junior high school and primary school departments, with a total of 703 teachers and students. the students come from various ethnic groups, including tibetan, han, hui and salar.

students are taking a tibetan language class at a nine-year school in zhada county, tibet. photo by china news service reporter mian zheng

walking into the classroom of grade 6 class 2, the wall is covered with a curriculum, class awards and some slogans. the curriculum shows that grade 6 students have 37 classes and 2 interest group activities per week. among them, chinese, tibetan language and mathematics are the main subjects, with the same number of classes, 7 each. other courses include english, music, art, science and physical education. mima cangjue told reporters that her favorite class is chinese. she also took the initiative to recite a text "grassland". "the sentences in this text are so beautiful, i can write it into my composition." mima cangjue said.

"we will also arrange lectures on ethnic unity knowledge." teacher dawa yuzhen said that she will use video courses to teach students to feel the style of each ethnic group, listen to stories and learn from role models, and learn to maintain ethnic unity.

at the same time, liu nian'en, a han student in grade 4 class 2, was taking a tibetan language class. he was a little slow in copying, so the girl sitting next to him immediately helped him find the reference position with a pen. "i am the only han student in our class, and i also have to take tibetan language classes. my classmates and i have a very good relationship, and we often play football together," said liu nian'en.

walking around the campus, most of the slogans are in the national common language and tibetan, such as "build a beautiful campus" and "be both moral and talented". the public blackboards use the national common language, tibetan and english to introduce the national day, teachers' day, mid-autumn festival and national unity.

students play during break at the nine-year school in zhada county, tibet. photo by gong que

in recent years, the school has continued to strengthen infrastructure construction and is expanding teaching buildings and dormitory buildings.

"in the past, the school only had one water room, and it was difficult to supply hot water." in the memory of the school secretary li liang, it was not convenient to use water in the school before, and it was really distressing for the children to drink cold water, so the teachers always boiled hot water at home and brought it to school for the students to drink. as the tenth batch of aid-to-tibet cadres from hebei province, i used the aid-to-tibet funds to complete the school's water supply renovation project last year. now, the school has renovated 7 flush toilets, and drinking water equipment has been laid out in every corner, so that students can drink hot water at any time.

music teacher wang shaojun is from henan. he said that teachers and students often celebrate festivals and "go to lingka" (tibetan for garden activities such as picnics) together. in class, he teaches students music, and outside of class, students teach him tibetan folk songs and dances. teachers and students jointly participate in special activities held by the school, such as "football into campus", "hundreds of people dance during intermission", and "national intermission exercises", aiming to enhance students' sense of belonging and happiness.

although zhada is located on the border, it has an educational promise that spans mountains and seas. it is understood that the school has formed a "hand-in-hand school" with several middle schools in shijiazhuang. children from zhada county and shijiazhuang often hold online class meetings together, get to know each other through video calls, and many students have become pen pals.

before the reporter left the school, students were jumping around in their green school uniforms on the playground. everyone waved and greeted the reporter warmly. under the sunshine of the plateau, young seedlings were growing towards the sun. (end)