A rural school to vanish

Shizigou Primary School lies in isolation, 7.5 kilometers away from the mountainous Yuchuan Township. The school has only one teacher and four students. Ma Junqiang, 55, has been working as a teacher in rural primary schools for 37 years.

A teacher named Shui in the Yuchuan Township Central School said that Shizigou Primary school is well equipped with teaching facilities, but to no avail. Shui explained that older teachers holding fast to their positions do not know how to operate multimedia facilities for teaching and instruction.

A year from now Shizigou Primary School will vanish if it cannot attract enough students from nearby villages. Students from better-off families will be sent to a school more than 5 kilometers away, while students from poor families will drop out.

According to Shui, most children, especially girls, have to drop out of school when they finish their nine-year compulsory education as it is difficult for these stragglers to travel long distances to a senior high school in the county every day.

Due to a resettlement program, many residents from the mountains have set up new homes at the foot of the mountains. Moreover, many parents will move to live with their children in the cities where they make their living. Ma Junqiang told the reporter that rural primary schools like Shizigou Primary School will disappear as children have a better chance of a good education in schools off the mountains.