news

in the vast countryside, every morning when the sun rises, the school bell always rings loudly and firmly. the bell calls the children to the classroom, and this sound carries countless expectations and dreams, as well as strength and hope.

in the era of material scarcity, ringing the bell manually to notify children of get out of class became a special task for principals every day. today, modern facilities have long replaced manual bell ringing, but the title of "bell ringer" has not disappeared, but has more connotations. tao xingzhi once said, "the principal is the soul of a school." today, principals not only shoulder the responsibility of teaching and educating students, but also try to find new directions for grassroots education in the entire village.

their stories are often hidden by the mountains, but their perseverance and dedication always echo in every corner of the village like the sound of ancient bells. here, the bells guide the direction, and every "bell ringer" also conveys hope in this land.

　　the bell ringer

in the rural primary school of tangmiao town, yuncheng county, heze city, shandong province, principal peng xiangli always appears with the morning light. during the eight years he served as the principal of this primary school, he always had a simple dream: to build a school where rural children can develop more comprehensively.

peng xiangli racked his brains to design quality education classes. he organized the children to watch the stars at night to stimulate their interest in astronomy. without funds to purchase professional equipment, he made a "telescope": the night sky in the countryside was brilliant with stars, and peng xiangli sat among the children and talked about constellations and legends. at that moment, he became the children's navigator in space. later, the old locust tree in the school also became his "teaching aid", extending from a big tree to tell the history of a village. in this simple way, the children learned to observe every detail in life and learn to feel the beauty of daily life with their hearts.

it has always been the students who are afraid of their teachers. however, principal lei yong of the zaogang teaching point in bajing town, gao'an city, jiangxi province, also has times when he is "afraid" of his students. what he fears most is that students will ask him when they meet them: "principal, when can we play basketball on our playground?" this question is like a thorn that pierces his heart deeply.

the school facilities were backward and the teaching staff was insufficient, but lei yong did not want to wait for outside assistance. he decided to repair the playground and tidy up the library by himself. the school's daily teaching tasks were already heavy, but lei yong and the teachers took the initiative to sacrifice their weekend rest time to improve the learning environment for the children. lei yong often said: "although the conditions are a little difficult, as long as we adults do not give up, rural children can grow up as happily and healthily as children in the city."

backward facilities and lack of resources are worrying enough, and the mental health of children is a focus of attention for rural primary schools. he nan, the principal of danhua primary school in shadong town, beiliu city, yulin, guangxi, found a large number of left-behind children during his door-to-door visits. due to the long-term lack of parental companionship and care, these children gradually became introverted and even self-enclosed.

he nan realized that the mission of a school is not only to teach knowledge, but also to provide emotional care for students. so a "parents school" came into being. he nan regularly invites parents to participate in educational lectures, and teaches them little by little how to communicate with their children and how to help their children grow up happily. left-behind children are especially the focus of he nan. with his encouragement, teachers have become "proxy parents" for students - even if parents cannot always be with their children, the school can fill in the gap and give them the same warmth as home.

the peaches and plums do not speak, but the paths are drawn to them. the time, effort and exploration spent on teaching and imparting knowledge do not actually bring any benefits to the principals, but they still insist on "ringing the bell" in the countryside day after day, ringing the bell for class and the bell for growth. every small step taken by a child towards confidence, courage and persistence is a mark of the power of rural education. the "bell ringers" in the fields allow the whole society to see the diverse future lives of children and the infinite possibilities of the vast countryside.

　　empowering love and hope

there are countless grassroots educators like peng xiangli, lei yong and he nan who are rooted in the countryside and push batches of rural children onto a broader path. for these students, the principal is undoubtedly the most important torchbearer in their growth process, but in fact this heavy responsibility is not easy to bear.

many principals have been "stumped" by students: when can we have our own indoor sports stadium? will we have milk to drink? can the food be more delicious? principals are always troubled by the poor conditions of their schools and their inability to keep up with students' expectations. in fact, there are more confusions hidden on the other side that children cannot see.

every principal wants to provide rural children with some quality education and practical opportunities, but without the leadership of professionals, it is difficult for the teachers of "village schools" to design high-quality courses. when leaving the mountains became a common choice for adults, fewer and fewer teachers chose to stay in the countryside. "young teachers basically passed the exam and went to the county town." as a result, the mental health of a large number of left-behind children needs to be dealt with urgently, and the existing rural teacher team is in a period of transition, and it is almost difficult to solve the children's psychological problems by their own ability.

diversified social organizations from the social level are paying attention to the plight of principals and hope to provide help for rural primary education through their own efforts. in june this year, southern weekend and mengniu jointly launched the "bell ringer village primary school principal empowerment plan" public welfare project, organizing hundreds of village primary school principals from all over the country to gather in beijing to discuss and solve the bottlenecks encountered in educational practice.

hundreds of "bell ringers" from all over the country gathered together

during the one-week event, the principals shared their views and put forward the difficulties they encountered on topics such as improving students' mental health, motivating young teachers, home-school co-education, curriculum reform and campus culture development. in rural education, these are not isolated problems, but propositions that all educators attach great importance to.

these questions raised by the "bell ringers" were answered at the symposium. education experts and scholars from peking university, beijing language and culture university, people's education press and other institutions gave suggestions on the topics one by one. the principals also brought out their "localized" education experiences, hoping to help children in other regions. lei yingfei, principal of jingwai mingde primary school in xuanwei, yunnan, generously shared his school's "happy farm" - teachers led students to grow cabbage, peppers and even raise pigs. in lei yingfei's view, the countryside should not represent isolation, "children who have not kissed the land have an incomplete childhood."

how to narrow the gap between rural education and urban education as much as possible is a question that every principal has thought about. for this reason, the "bell ringer·village primary school principal empowerment plan" also provides principals with the opportunity to get close to the latest teaching concepts and educational methods. as a model of characteristic school running, the principal of renmin university high school aerospace city school introduced his experience in school construction, teacher training, curriculum setting, integration and innovation to the rural "bell ringers". on china education television, the principals personally experienced how digital technology empowers the classroom in the live broadcast room and learned about the latest impact of current artificial intelligence on the field of education. these practices at the forefront of education have opened a window for rural principals, through which they can see what their schools may become in the future.

principals experience firsthand how digital technology empowers the classroom

seeing the future and trying to move towards it is the original intention of mengniu to launch the "bell ringer village primary school principal empowerment program". as many principals resonated in the event, "education is a cloud pushing another cloud, a tree shaking another tree, and a life influencing another life." the same is true for educational experience. in the exchanges and collisions with each other, each bell ringer has a new answer in his heart about how to run a good school and how to educate the next generation.

the prosperity of a society is not only built on the high-rise buildings in the city, but also rooted in the deep soil of rural education. from children to the future, from the countryside to the country, from education to construction, it is always the chain that drives the wheels of prosperity to keep rolling. many companies like mengniu are actively integrating into this chain, empowering the "bell ringers" and promoting the development of rural education in their own way and from their own perspective.

　　action, lighting the way for rural revitalization

mengniu student milk has long been concerned about rural education.

as a dairy company, children's nutrition and health have always been the most concerned proposition of mengniu. last year alone, mengniu donated more than 3.7 million packs of milk to 452 schools in more than 20 provinces across the country, covering 582,000 children. in recent years, mengniu has successively built "mengniu hope clinics" in 10 rural primary and secondary schools in wuhan to help improve the sanitary conditions of rural schools, and to a certain extent solved the problem of lack of medical conditions in local rural schools.

to support the development of rural education, mengniu student milk goes hand in hand with the "bell ringers"

as mengniu continues to go down and go deep into the countryside, it has discovered that material support can only improve children's lives, but empowerment around education has the opportunity to change the future of a generation. as a result, the vision of this public welfare practice continues to be cast further and more focused on the development of rural education. in 2021, mengniu upgraded the "nutrition accessibility plan" to the "mengniu nutrition accessibility project", and simultaneously launched the "bell ringer village primary school principal empowerment plan". in the following years, mengniu joined hands with southern weekend to visit many villages and village primary schools, gain insight into the nutritional and health status of rural children, and released the "nutrition and health education survey report for rural primary schools in central and western china". in the process of face-to-face communication with village primary school principals, mengniu has a deeper understanding of their confusion and demands in teaching work, and looks for opportunities to help them solve these problems. this year's study tour of 100 principals to beijing is a platform built for this purpose.

the platform is what the "bell ringers" from the countryside are most eagerly looking forward to. rooted in the grassroots, they need to hear resonance in communication, be inspired in exploration, see guidance in learning, and also need to stand beside thousands of fellow travelers and be determined that what they are dedicating is a grand cause that can change the entire rural landscape. mengniu hopes to do everything in its power to help them create such opportunities.

behind this is actually mengniu's deep understanding of rural revitalization and its continuous investment and attention - rural revitalization is not only about the economy, but also about people. these people are children, educators, and every individual who makes up the countryside. mengniu is well aware that a high-quality development enterprise can have a huge leverage effect on rural revitalization. the construction of a green supply chain, the innovation of environmental protection technology, and community participation projects all provide space for rural employment. the china dairy industrial park project invested and constructed by mengniu alone has supported the employment of thousands of local migrant workers and has become an important force in driving rural revitalization.

from nutrition and health to education, from humanistic care to industrial development, behind many projects is a brand's deep understanding of social responsibility. public welfare actions based on giving back to society are stimulating the endogenous motivation of rural communities. with the in-depth implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, enterprises and diversified social organizations represented by mengniu are playing an increasingly prominent role in the exploration of high-quality rural development. they are also "ringing bells" - ringing the vitality of education, the economy, and the vast rural land.