Rural teacher Yao Yureng teaches pupils at Hongchibai Primary School in Wenfeng County in China’s southwest municipality of Chongqing. He is the only teacher at this remote mountainous campus where a total of 11 students enrolled in 2015.

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An important task for poverty reduction is to ensure that children in poor areas receive a good education, which is a crucial way to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. In many poverty-stricken central and western regions of China, young and middle-aged teachers with higher education backgrounds have become the backbone, outnumbering the older generation of rural teachers. In fact, the role that the 80s and 90s generation teachers could play in targeted poverty alleviation will largely decide the effectiveness of poverty alleviation efforts in rural areas.

The China Youth and Children Research Center surveyed young and middle-aged teachers in rural parts of Guizhou Province from August 2016 to March 2017. A total of 3,500 rural teachers under the age of 35 participated in the survey. The result sheds some light on the role that young rural teachers could play in targeted poverty alleviation.

 

Deep understanding of rural poverty
Most young teachers were born and raised in rural areas and have chosen to return to the countryside after graduation. They tend to have strong feelings for the villagers and a rational understanding of rural poverty. The results of the survey showed that in a 1 to 10 self-assessment, young rural teachers reported an affinity for the countryside as high as 8.86 points; understanding of the village, 8.42 points; level of adaptation, 8.71 points; understanding of left-behind children, 8.41 points; confidence in rural development, 8.31 points, and relationship with villagers, 8.77 points. It can be concluded that the young rural teachers are indeed rooted in the countryside and also well integrated into the rural intellectual community, which helps them to build bonds with local residents.

At the same time, the survey found that their assessments of the roots of rural poverty are rational and reflect a typical teacher’s perspective. Data showed that more than 60 percent of the interviewed teachers said that “limited resources make poverty alleviation difficult,” and “the outflow of a large number of working-age migrant workers has led to a lack of talent in rural areas,” 59.4 percent said that “the perception that education is worthless is prevalent so the dropout rates are high in rural schools,” while 40 percent said that “villagers have no way to escape poverty,” and “rural schools have become isolated islands of culture, separated from the rural society and have yet to play their due role.”

 

Strong will to help
At present, most of the rural teachers are young returnees who originate from the countryside, so they have a strong desire to participate in poverty alleviation through education. In reality, many young teachers in rural areas have mixed rural and urban identities, making them both subjective participants and objective recipients in the construction of rural society. In terms of spatial structure, they are deeply engaged in rural society, but in terms of institutional arrangements, they are not necessarily members of the rural society. This dual identity means that they put greater emphasis on rural education and have a greater will to contribute to poverty alleviation. They are well educated and have the capacity to help reduce poverty in villages.

According to the survey, 90.5 percent of the young rural teachers said they felt a responsibility to do something for their local communities, 78.7 percent said that they feel obligated to take part in targeted poverty alleviation, while 66.2 percent said they believe they could play a great role in the process of targeted poverty alleviation. It can be seen that the young rural teachers agree to their possible involvement in the development of rural society. Their deep love for the countryside has brought them back to their hometowns, and they are willing to explore their expertise and broad vision to improve the quality of education and help reduce poverty in their hometowns.

Rural teachers work with children and teenagers on a daily basis, which makes them the key to helping the future of the nation aim high, boost self-confidence and learn in a disadvantaged situation. Targeted poverty alleviation is aimed at adult-oriented families but also children in poor families who are hindered by long-term poverty, lack of motivation and falling behind intellectually.

Poverty not only deprives the children of a well-established material environment but also impairs their confidence and future expectations. The problems associated with poverty during adolescence cause direct or indirect negative impact on one’s development during puberty and adulthood, which requires active early educational and psychological intervention as a form of damage control.

Guizhou Province, a mountainous province in Southwest China, is home to more impoverished residents and left-behind children than any other province. Poverty or the absence of parental care is thus likely to lead to more difficulties and setbacks for teenagers.

The survey showed that 64.3 percent of the young rural teachers reported that left-behind children accounted for more than 10 percent in their classrooms and 24.2 percent of the students lived on basic living allowance provided by the government. Therefore, rural teachers often assume the responsibility of caring for left-behind children and children in poor families through love, encouragement, funding and other means.

Data showed that 86.3 percent of young rural teachers frequently visit homes to communicate with parents or other guardians about students’ school performance and offer targeted after-class tutoring programs. More importantly, through home visits and teacher-parent conferences, rural teachers are able to encourage parents and their children to aim high and take initiative because they could all accomplish something of themselves. This kind of “pep talk” indeed is quite conducive to building the confidence and morale needed to overcome difficulties and get out of poverty. After all, losing hope could be detrimental to those who are already in distress. Spiritual strength may as well be their last hope.

 

Room for improvement
Though teachers have played an active role in rural education, but in general, they still could contribute more to the rural development, given that at the moment, they are more or less marginalized and not well equipped with the skills needed to alleviate poverty.

The problem of marginalization means that rural teachers, especially young teachers, have not received sufficient attention in the institutional design of targeted poverty alleviation. The instrumental problem is that rural teachers are primarily used to identify poor families. In a panel interview with young rural teachers, they said that they are often sent to investigate whether a student and his or her family live in poverty, but they are rarely consulted on how to provide targeted assistance.

The survey showed that rural teachers consider themselves to be responsible for: “educating rural students” (84.8 percent), “frequent home visits” (50.8 percent), “helping raise farmers’ income” (44.6 percent), “providing consultation regarding information technology” (44.2 percent) “vocational skills training” (43.8 percent) and “financial assistance” (12.9 percent). This shows that young rural teachers have not fully recognized their role in targeted poverty alleviation. These aforementioned issues could be solved through institutional arrangements.

Finally, rural teachers lack the necessary capacity to participate in poverty alleviation. About 92.3 percent of rural teachers surveyed graduated from teaching colleges and universities, so they are not familiar with how to translate their knowledge into vocational skills training to help increase farmers’ incomes. Therefore, it is essential to provide more training for rural teachers and fully tap their potential to take part in poverty alleviation projects.

 

Deng Xiquan is from the China Youth and Children Research Center.

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According to the China Teaching Assistance Report in June 2016, every year tens of thousands of people enroll in volunteer teaching programs in China. It is estimated that China has around 310 schools that receive help from the non-governmental volunteer teacher organizations, and each semester, they recruit about 700 teachers. About 75.8 percent of volunteers work one to two months or half of a year while 24.2 percent of volunteers work relatively long-term for more than six months. In addition to rural teachers, volunteers could also play an important part in poverty reduction.

 

(edited by YANG XUE)