By Hou Bidan, Ju Yaqian
Maidan Village on the border between China and Kyrgyzstan is 2,505 meters above sea level. It is located in the northern part of Tugumati Township, Artux City, Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, China's western most Xinjiang Autonomous Region. In Kyrgyz, it means "a place where there are oil and grain." However, it is far away from the urban area, the natural environment is harsh, and the economic and cultural development is lagging. The village was once classified as a national village with extreme poverty.
In 1962, the Maidan border post was set up here. At that time, there was not even a primary school in the village. The officers and soldiers of the company built classrooms, donated stationery, and became teachers. And even their spouses who visited the company took on the work of part-time teachers.
In September 1980, the company officers and soldiers helped teachers and students build up the first classroom near the company, and the children in the mountainous areas began to attend classes. But before 2012, there were only 5 "bilingual" teachers in the school, while most herders over the age of 28 could not communicate in Mandarin Chinese, and 80 percent of herders only graduated from primary school culture or never attended school.
In response to this situation, the border defense company encouraged soldiers with a college education to set up a team of extracurricular tutors to regularly teach the children. Being part-time teachers for children has become a glorious tradition of the company.
Now, Maidan Elementary School has developed into a spacious and bright school that can accommodate more than 300 students. The hardware facilities have been improved year by year, and the quality of teaching has been improved. Since 2015, Maidan Village has cultivated 54 college students, and Maidan Village has become a well-known "Education Village". Besides, 13 young people of the village have enlisted.
Over the past 58 years, the company's officers and soldiers have changed, but the pace of helping the village has never stopped.
Captain Peng Guoqi, a company instructor who originally majored in music at the university, taught music, Chinese and other courses to the Grade 6 children while serving as an extracurricular tutor. He taught the children to sing. Watching them learning from scratch and now they can sing dozens of songs and can play some small musical instruments, Cap. Peng is full of happiness.
Four years ago, Corporal Gao Bin became an extracurricular tutor at Maidan Primary School. In the past few years, he has served as a Chinese tutor for two grades. Through a donation to the school and extracurricular tutoring activities, he witnessed the children's step-by-step growth and changed them with practical actions.
Private Palaxati is an extracurricular tutor for Grade 4. In addition to publicizing national defense knowledge, he is also responsible for the students' math tutoring.
Reading, making crafts, playing games, playing football... What children look forward to most every week is the arrival of the PLA uncles.
On the way to help students, the company officers and soldiers will tirelessly persuade them and their parents if some children do not want to go to school. The current principal of Maidan Elementary School Maimaitijuma Tohetabayi still remembers that he was once forced back to school by the company commander when he was herding sheep, and the company commander also stuffed his allowance into his pocket.
In Maidan, the officers and soldiers are not only the PLA members, but also shoulder the duties and mission of teachers. On the occasion of National Teachers Day on September 10, the children also sent their warmest wishes: “I am very happy to grow up in the village helped by my PLA uncles. They guide us and help us build a beautiful school. Uncle PLA, I wish you a Happy Teachers' Day."
