Volunteer educators reshape a rural school's future

Each summer, new faces arrive with lessons, laughter, and dreams — revitalizing a village school and the futures within it.

Fan Yichao, a 24-year-old postgraduate student at East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai, has been receiving heartfelt messages from students at Fonian School in Weishan town, Liling, Hunan province, where he recently completed a two-week volunteer teaching program this summer.

As team leader, Fan, along with about a dozen fellow ECNU students, joined the program in early July — an initiative that has been running for over a decade.

Launched in 2014, the program at Fonian School — formerly known as Dalin Primary School — was established to honor the educational philosophy of Liu Fonian, a former president of ECNU who studied at the school as a child.

Over the past 11 years, more than 100 ECNU volunteers have contributed over 800 hours of service, supporting the education of more than 800 local students.

Thanks to these sustained efforts, the once under-resourced school — struggling with outdated facilities and a shortage of teachers — has been transformed into a "model rural school", with total student enrollment growing from fewer than 60 to 180.

"When I was young, I really admired the volunteer teachers. They were confident, knowledgeable, warm, and loving, and I dreamed of becoming someone like them," said Zhong Lingxuan, who first attended the camp in 2015 as a fourth-grade student. Now a university student herself, Zhong has returned — as one of the volunteers contributing to rural education.

"As a child, the summer camp felt like a kaleidoscope to me — rotating once a year and always bringing something new," he added.

These fresh experiences came not only with the arrival of new volunteer teachers each year but also from the creative and carefully designed lessons they brought with them.

This year, for example, the team prepared about 40 customized lessons for the two-week camp, covering a wide range of topics across eight sectors, including aesthetics, craftsmanship, scientific innovation, culture, history, and personal development, according to Fan.