On May 30, General Secretary Xi Jinping wrote back to the students of Zhijiang Primary School in Jialing District, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, giving them cordial encouragement and wishing them and the children throughout the country a happy holiday.

Zhijiang Primary School was formerly a mountain primary school in Jialing District, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province. The mountain is high and the road is steep, and the school buildings are old. In 2004, the school was relocated with the help of its counterpart in Zhejiang Province. Xi Jinping, then the secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, laid the foundation for the school in May of the same year. The school was officially put into use in September 2005, and the conditions for running the school have improved significantly. There are 287 primary school students at present. Recently, all the students in Class 1, Grade 5 of Zhijiang Primary School wrote a letter to General Secretary Xi, reporting on their study and life, expressing their gratitude and determination to become good teenagers in the new era. A few days ago, our reporter went to Zhijiang Primary School to record the 20 years of thanksgiving stories of teachers and students, and understand the changes brought by the cooperation between the East and the West to the local economic and social development.

——Editor

In Meng Xia, all things show together. Starting from the urban area of Nanchong, Sichuan Province, and walking along Jialing Avenue for a short time, a primary school campus with red walls and grey tiles came into sight.

"Here we are! This is Zhijiang Primary School." Before the bus stopped steadily, Wen Zhiyong, the first principal of Zhijiang Primary School, could not wait to point it out to the reporter. Just arrived at the gate of the campus, the sound of reading has been heard.

New school buildings to improve school running

"This thanksgiving letter has been written by us for 20 years."

Walking into the campus of Zhijiang Primary School, we can see modern teaching facilities everywhere: school history exhibition room, modern recording and broadcasting room, library, teacher's book bar, clay workshop, etc. Electronic whiteboards are used in the classroom, large LED displays are available in the library, and children shoot, kick, and run on the standard playground

"The foundation was laid in 2004, and we moved in in August of the next year." Standing at the school gate, Wen Zhiyong recalled, "In order to complete the relocation of the school buildings as soon as possible, all our teachers and students came together, and students' parents also came to help, and the relocation was completed in one day."

The sound of music is lingering in the mountain village, and smiling faces fill the campus. The happiness of teachers and students comes from the heart.

Zhijiang Primary School is the predecessor of a mountain primary school halfway up the mountain nearby. Children often have to walk a long way to school. "Children who are far away from home have to climb over two mountains and often have to go out to school before dawn," said Wen Zhiyong.

The hardware conditions of the mountainous primary schools halfway up the mountain are also not perfect. "Classrooms and canteens are more than 10 bungalows; the mountain is high and the road is steep, the houses are in disrepair for a long time, many of them are dilapidated houses; the mountain is short of water, the water pressure is not enough during the day, and water is delivered at night." Wen Zhiyong recalled.

At the beginning of 2004, the good news came that the East West Cooperation Zhejiang Assistance Working Group was going to help the school implement the relocation. The good news soon came true. On May 17, 2004, the new site of Zhijiang Primary School was laid. Wen Zhiyong and the on-site teachers and students were moved to tears.

Under the cooperation mechanism between the East and the West, Zhijiang Primary School has become one of the 166 Hope Primary Schools built by Zhejiang in Nanchong.

Twenty years have passed. Now, walking in the campus of Zhijiang Primary School, you can see a big stone standing on the campus square. The bright red "Thanksgiving" is engraved on it, and the following two rows of small words: "Zhejiang Province's counterpart assistance, remember May 17, 2004".

Standing in front of the "Thanksgiving Stone", we can see the ancient trees swaying in the wind on the playground of the old school building, and the old and new campuses echo from afar. Chen Zhenya, the current principal of Zhijiang Primary School, is excited.

"Since 2005, the school has designated May 17 as the campus Thanksgiving Day, and every year there will be campus Thanksgiving activities on this day." Chen Zhenya told reporters that drinking water is a source of thought. The school has carried out the "Five Ones" thanksgiving education for 20 years, that is, compiling a thanksgiving textbook, giving a thanksgiving lesson, having a good Thanksgiving Day, and writing a thanksgiving letter, Do a good job of thanksgiving.

Over the past 20 years, groups of students have grown happily here, and the campus of Zhijiang Primary School is also expanding. Covering an area from 5 mu in the past to 20 mu now, facilities and equipment have been upgraded continuously, and thanksgiving theme activities have never stopped... "We have written this thanksgiving letter with actions for 20 years," said Chen Zhenya.

Study hard and grow happily

"When I study here, I feel very warm"

"Music, pottery, Chinese culture, calligraphy, chess, badminton, table tennis, dance..." Facing the reporter, Tang Hailing from Class 1, Grade 5 of Zhijiang Primary School, together with the students, introduced the interest classes of the school in a relaxed manner. As the children said, after 20 years of development, Zhijiang Primary School has continuously improved its talent training system. Through rich and colorful interest activities, the school enriches students' extracurricular life, trains their will and makes them grow happily.

"Our school has opened a variety of interest classes, and the courses are very rich, which has increased our knowledge." Tang Hailing is very interested in Hulusi. In her spare time, she signed up for Hulusi interest classes. "In addition to Hulusi, I also like labor lessons and badminton lessons."

Labor course is a characteristic course of Zhijiang Primary School. A few years ago, the experiential teaching curriculum with the theme of "growing vegetables" was introduced into Zhijiang Primary School through field study.

"Is this a weed?" "Yes, we need to pull up the weed." In the vegetable field near the teaching building, the teacher and students are having a labor lesson. Pumpkin, eggplant, chilli... all kinds of vegetables grown by children are struggling to grow.

"Boys and girls, the pumpkin is about to mature, and it should be picked next month." Chen Xiaoli, the head teacher of Class 1, Grade 4, greets the children while introducing the school's labor class to the reporter. "At the beginning, we just filled the big foam box with soil to let children experience growing vegetables. Later, we saw that everyone was very enthusiastic, and the school opened a field in the school. Now every class has its own vegetable field."

"Through practical activities such as planting vegetables, children not only learn agricultural knowledge, but also feel the joy of labor and harvest." Chen Xiaoli said that the school is actively planning to provide students with more practice space.

Moving the classroom to the outside enhances the interaction and experience, and children are more willing to learn and able to learn. In recent years, the school has carried out research and learning activities by carrying out excellent teachers' demonstration courses, teaching and research courses, competing for teaching courses, promoting the exchange and interaction of teachers in Zhejiang and Sichuan, and improving the teaching level.

A good learning environment and teaching conditions can not be separated from the dedication of teachers, nor can it be separated from the deep friendship between Zhejiang and Sichuan. In recent years, Wuyi County, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, and Linhai City, Taizhou City have cumulatively invested 31.15 million yuan of education cooperation funds in Jialing District, Nanchong City, which is supported by their counterparts, to improve the school running conditions and solve the learning and living problems of local students with difficulties.

Over the past 20 years, Zhijiang Primary School has cultivated nearly 2000 students. "The hardware and software of the school now are really wonderful. It's a very warm feeling to study here." Jiang Ming, the assistant judge of the People's Court of Shuangliu District, Chengdu, was a student of Zhijiang Primary School. In 2004, she participated in the foundation laying ceremony of the new school as a student representative. "I hope that the younger brothers and sisters will grow up to be grateful people and try to help more people in their future life and work," Jiang said.

Crossing mountains and seas

"Good education, mutual promotion and joint construction of 'model courses', and cooperation between the East and the West has yielded fruitful results in many aspects"

"I'm so happy to hear your voice." "I want to read some extracurricular books recently, can you recommend some?"...... In Linhai City, Zhejiang Province, Yao Haihong, a Chinese teacher at Zheshang Primary School, rang her mobile phone after work, and the students of Zhijiang Primary School asked her to "talk on the phone" again. At the beginning of this year, she returned to Linhai after completing a year and a half of volunteer education. A few months later, the children were still reluctant to part with her.

Since 2021, Linhai and Jialing have deepened cooperation and exchanged teachers. Yao Haihong joined the Linhai team stationed in Jialing in Zhejiang and Sichuan, and she volunteered to come to Zhijiang Primary School to teach.

In order to live up to the children's expectations, Yao Haihong is very diligent in class. "Children are very interested in new things outside the mountains, and have a strong thirst for knowledge. But often because their parents are working outside, they are not around, and their learning is easily affected." Yao Haihong said that she often uses after class, rest time, and on the way home from school to interact with children, cultivate their interest in learning, and help them set learning goals

According to the introduction of the relevant person in charge of Linhai Municipal Education Bureau, in recent years, according to "what Jialing needs, what Linhai can", we have explored the cooperation between Taizhou Middle School and Nanchong High School, Zheshang Primary School and Zhijiang Primary School. In particular, Zheshang Primary School and Zhijiang Primary School have deeply cooperated in teaching reform, project co construction, school management, talent cultivation, resource sharing and other aspects, bringing new impetus to the development of education for Zhijiang Primary School.

Speaking of changes, Lei Chunmei, the director of Zhijiang Primary School Office, felt deeply. "Especially for teacher training, now school teachers can absorb new curriculum ideas and incorporate them into daily teaching by participating in training remotely through the network." Lei Chunmei said that local teachers were also invited to participate in the development of gratitude education courses. With the deep integration and mutual promotion of education between the two places, the teaching level of the school has been improved qualitatively.

Cross the mountains and seas and go in both directions. "30 teachers went to schools in Zhejiang to exercise, and 31 teachers were selected by Zhejiang to teach in Jialing. The volunteer teachers also carried out more than 30 activities of sending teachers to the countryside." According to the relevant person in charge of the Education and Sports Bureau of Jialing District, in recent years, the local government has actively promoted the exchange and interaction between schools in Jialing District and quality schools in Wucheng District, Wuyi County, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, and Linhai City, Taizhou, forming 32 pairs of schools. The schools in the four regions carried out online and offline activities, and realized the cooperation, sharing and deep integration of education and teaching resources by means of on-site mutual visits, network distance, establishment of work groups, etc.

At the same time, Linhai City also invested 1.8 million yuan to build an integrated platform for education quality improvement and monitoring in Jialing District, benefiting more than 4000 teachers and 30000 students in the whole district. The cooperation fund of 150000 yuan was invested to implement the training project for professional and technical talents in education, training 2135 school management cadres, head teachers, kindergarten teachers, primary school teachers, etc. in Jialing District

"Over the past 20 years, Zhejiang and Sichuan have forged a deep friendship across mountains and seas. Good education has promoted the construction of 'model courses', and the cooperation between the east and the west has yielded fruitful results in many ways." Zhang Dongyun, secretary of Nanchong Municipal Party Committee, said that Nanchong will bear in mind the instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, firmly promote the work of children and adolescents, make every effort to run education to the satisfaction of the people, and continue to deepen education, medical care The cooperation between the East and the West in terms of high-quality development and overall rural revitalization will strive to create a new round of cooperation model between the East and the West.

Qiantang River and Jialing River, two rivers separated by thousands of miles, "meet" in the cooperation between the east and the west, and 20 years of friendship flows quietly, helping the children in Bashan and Shushui to thrive

　　 Data source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education, Sichuan Provincial Department of Education