Liu Xiantao, a teacher in Zunyi, Guizhou province, has two important days to celebrate this week.
Liu, who recently earned a bachelor's degree in history from Beijing Normal University, is among the first group of graduates from the Outstanding Teachers Program, a national initiative designed to prepare dedicated teachers to work in high schools in less-developed regions. He now teaches history at Chacheng Senior High School in Meitan county, a former nationally designated poverty-stricken area in Zunyi.
Liu's story reflects a broader and consistent national effort to strengthen rural education. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the special-post teacher recruitment program, which has deployed some 1.18 million teachers to rural primary and middle schools across central and western China since 2006, according to the Ministry of Education.
Complementary initiatives such as the National Training Program, launched in 2010, have provided training to more than 22.59 million teachers and principals, greatly improving the quality of education in underdeveloped regions.
In 2021, the Outstanding Teachers Program was launched to cultivate 10,000 teachers annually to serve in once-impoverished and border counties in central and western regions.
As of 2025, more than 76 percent of rural teachers held a bachelor's degree or higher, a dramatic increase over the past decade.
Liu's decision to return to his roots was deeply influenced by his own educational experience. Growing up in a remote town in Yuqing county, he had limited exposure to the wider world. His primary school Chinese teacher, Ms Li, opened his eyes to the power of knowledge and compassion.
"Ms Li didn't just teach us from textbooks — she taught us how to learn and how to care," Liu said. "Even after she was diagnosed with cancer and left our class, I continued to visit her. Her passing during my final year of high school strengthened my resolve to become a teacher like her."
During his studies at Beijing Normal University, Liu excelled academically and received several honors, including the National Scholarship. Like many of his peers, he was tempted by the dynamic urban life in Beijing. But through volunteering and teaching practice in rural schools, he rediscovered his sense of purpose.
Chacheng Senior High School, where Liu now works, was recently established to serve students who scored lower on entrance exams. For many, it represents a last chance to continue formal education before possibly turning to low-skilled work or early marriage, he said.
"Every day here is a challenge, but also a gift," Liu said. "When a parent thanks me with sincerity in their voice, when my students and I won the first place in the military training our school arranged for the students, when I see their eyes light up during a history lesson — these are the moments that make me the happiest, and they happen every day."
His wish for his birthday and Teachers' Day this year is simple, yet profound: "May I become a better teacher in the next year, and may my students achieve satisfactory grades in the next three years and become someone in life."
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