Some children as young as four years old also go to school in the snow mountains with their elder sisters every day, and teachers stagger along the snowy mountain trails for several kilometers to students' homes. In Songmu Village, Xinglong Town, Fengjie County, there is a school route that passes through a wild boar forest, covered with ice and snow, and it takes the children six to seven hours to travel back and forth each day. During the Spring Festival, CCTV continuously reported on this school route, giving it high attention. How far is this road? How much is it covered with ice and snow? When will it be shortened? How do the children walk this path to school? Starting from the day before yesterday, Chongqing Evening News reporters went deep into the scene for an on-site interview.
Chongqing Evening News reporters Tang Hanfeng, Tian Xiao, Wu Juan, Qian Bo, photography report; Chongqing Evening News graphic design by Guo Juan
The school route covered with ice and snow
Rain boots leave deep footprints in the snow.
"You've come at just the right time. Every year during winter and summer vacations, we visit some of our students' homes. Let's walk together on their way to and from school," said Su Dequan, head of Songmu Village Primary School in Xinglong Town, happily upon hearing the intention of the Chongqing Evening News reporter. He invited Jingzhu Central Primary School Vice Principal Lü Wanbin to join him on the home visits.
At 10:00 AM yesterday, large flakes of snow were falling from the sky, and the mountains and fields were all white. Under the guidance of the two teachers, the Chongqing Evening News reporter set out, with the destination being Wujiazhai, where eight families live, and eight children attend Songmu Village Primary School.
The initial part of the road wasn't too steep, about one meter wide, which was relatively broad among the mountain paths. The snow had already covered the ground a few centimeters thick, leaving a deep footprint with each step and making a squelching sound.
Although Chongqing Evening News reporters had changed into newly bought long rain boots and didn't have to worry about getting wet from the snow, their feet and ankles still felt piercingly cold. After walking in the snow for more than half an hour, their feet began to feel warm, and they no longer felt the cold.
A wild boar had just passed through the path ahead.
By 11:00, the group had walked past a place called Ganlong Cave, and Teacher Su said they had covered half the distance to Wujiazhai. But the road suddenly disappeared. "If we cross this hilltop, we'll be almost there!" Teacher Su said lightly, but when Chongqing Evening News reporters looked up, it was a completely unscalable mountain ridge, with no sign of a road.
Because of the heavy snow cover, although there was a road, it was actually invisible. They could only discern the road from the sparse vegetation on the ground. Among the dense layers of forest, the two teachers trampled out a narrow path through the thick snow, barely wide enough for one person to pass.
"Be careful, there are wild boars!" Teacher Su shouted loudly, pointing at several three-toed paw prints in the snow. "These footprints are very clear, the wild boar has just passed not long ago." Teacher Su said, "Wild boars are also afraid of people. If we talk loudly, it will be scared away!"
Shouting is the most convenient communication tool in the mountains.
After climbing in the snow for more than half an hour, they hadn't seen a single household. Finally, after struggling up the hilltop and passing through a bamboo grove, even Teacher Su got lost.
"Huang Xiuping... Huang Xiuping..." Teachers Su and Lü started shouting into the snowy misty mountains. Teacher Su said, "Shouting is the most convenient communication tool in the mountains, and this shout can be heard within a radius of one or two miles."
As they walked, they shouted. About ten minutes later, they heard a response from the students on the other side. "That's right, this is the way," Teacher Su said happily.
"Are we here yet?" asked the Chongqing Evening News reporter. "It's still early, the reply came from the opposite mountain, we still need to go down the mountain and then climb up again."
Going downhill was much harder than going uphill. Beneath the snow was slippery mud, and the two teachers often had to squat halfway and use their hands to hold onto protruding rocks or branches in the snow, sliding down step by step, with their clothes covered in snow and mud.
At 12:20 PM, after over two hours of arduous trekking, the Chongqing Evening News reporters finally arrived at Wujiazhai, where student Huang Xiuping lived. The two teachers gathered the children living nearby, surrounding them around the fire stove in Huang's house, chatting with the parents while checking the children's homework completion.
This was not the farthest place from the school. Teacher Su said that Shuangniu Village was even farther, and the children there had to walk another one or two hours.
Although this school route was long and arduous, the children in the mountains understood that this was the path to knowledge, and also the only way for them, who came from impoverished families, to leave the mountains. Therefore, no matter how many difficulties they encountered on the road, they would find ways to overcome them.
Older ones lead the way, eight children walk together.
"There are eight students in Wujiazhai, and they all go to school together every day," said Teacher Su. Due to the long journey and various dangers along the way, children in the mountains usually go to and from school with older ones leading the younger ones. The eight children in Wujiazhai, about 10 kilometers away from the school, were in such a situation.
Every day, the oldest Huang Xiuping gets up at five o'clock to wash, comb her hair, and sometimes helps her mother cook breakfast. By the time breakfast is finished, it's nearly six o'clock. "Generally, everyone starts around this time," she says. Taking her sister Huang Gui Ping, Huang Xiuping then shouts the names of the other classmates from the mountain ridge in front of the house, "Let's hurry up and go to school."
When wild boars come, we sing to scare them away.
"We've met wild boars several times on our way to school," said sixth-grader Huang Xiuping. "But we're not afraid, singing loudly can scare them away."
Huang Xiuping said that there were the most wild boars in July-August and November. At these times, she would lead her classmates to sing on the way to school, "Singing makes us not afraid, and it can also scare away wild boars."
"The best shoes for walking in the snow aren't fancy shoes, but plastic wellingtons," said Teacher Su. When there's accumulated snow in winter, the children wear plastic wellingtons to school, which can not only keep water out but also prevent slipping on the snowy roads. However, plastic wellingtons don't keep warm, and once they get wet with snow, the feet freeze immediately, "The children's feet get frostbitten, and they have to soak their feet in hot water when they return home, otherwise, they will turn purple," said student parent Li Chunlan.
When hungry on the road, eat icicles and wild fruits.
Every day, it takes the children about six hours to walk to and from school, but in the icy and snowy environment, they also find their own fun. "In winter, we don't need to bring water, if we're thirsty, we can directly eat 'ice hooks,'" said 10-year-old Lei Yan. The icicles hanging from trees are "ice hooks," and when put in the mouth, "it's like eating popsicles."
In the big mountains, there also grows a unique red wild fruit found in high-altitude areas, which the children call "mugua seeds," "they taste like hawthorns, and they are our snacks on the way to school," said Huang Xiuping. Now, the school offers free lunches, so the children won't be hungry on their way to and from school, but because the journey takes a long time, they can grab a handful of mugua seeds to pass the time when bored.
Each teacher's home has multiple sets of old clothes ready for students to change into.
"Our teachers here also walked the same way, and they fully understand the hardships of the children going to school, and everyone is trying to help them," said Su Dequan. In winter, it's cold, and the school fears the children might get up too early, so they postponed the start time from the original 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM, allowing them not to rush too much on the mountain roads.
Whenever it rains or snows, many children fall in the mud on the mountain roads. "If they get completely wet, how can they attend class? We must prepare clothes for them to change," said Su Dequan to Chongqing Evening News reporters. In Songmu Primary School, each teacher's home has multiple sets of old student clothes specifically prepared for students to change into whenever needed.
The newly built kitchen allows the children to enjoy hot free lunches.
Songmu Primary School is under the jurisdiction of Jingzhu Central Primary School, but its campus looks better than many central schools, with three newly painted buildings surrounding the concrete playground, forming a quadrangle courtyard, with all kinds of functional classrooms available.
Jingzhu Central Primary School Vice Principal Lü Wanbin said, this is thanks to the new rural construction underway in Songmu Village. Last year, the government invested over 170,000 yuan to renovate the school building, and spent nearly 480,000 yuan to build a kindergarten according to the standards of a third-level kindergarten.
Next to the kindergarten, Chongqing Evening News reporters saw a newly built kitchen equipped with complete kitchenware. "For the children, this is the most useful, they can enjoy hot free lunches every noon," said Lü Wanbin. In the past, village primary school children never ate lunch, starving until they finished school, and then walking for several hours to eat at home.
Four sets of teacher dormitories have been vacated to solve the boarding problem for 48 children.
"This building has ten rooms, and we have decided to convert the four on the left side into student dormitories," said Teacher Su, guiding Chongqing Evening News reporters to see. "Each room has two chambers, and each chamber can accommodate three bunk beds, allowing at least six students to stay. Thus, by vacating four rooms, we can solve the boarding problem for 48 children. We conducted a survey, and there are 42 students living far away from home, and as long as their parents agree, they can all stay at the school," said Teacher Su. Currently, the beds and quilts have been prepared, and starting next semester, children living far away won't have to traverse mountains and valleys to attend school anymore.
CCTV Special Program "School Buses Bound for Spring"
Three broadcasts of the school route
During this year's Spring Festival, CCTV News Channel launched a special program "School Buses Bound for Spring," continuously reporting on the school route of Songmu Village Primary School in Fengjie County, causing a strong reaction from all sectors of society.
January 20th CCTV News Channel "Morning News" was the first to report on the school route of the children from Songmu Village Primary School. CCTV journalists entered the home of student Huang Xiuping, documenting the school route of the two sisters. In the footage, the children cry as they get up at 5 am, walking in the dark on mountain roads. To drive away wild boars, parents set off fireworks while walking, and the children hold hands, singing and shouting to scare away the wild boars.
January 21st CCTV News Channel "On-the-Hour News" continued to broadcast the school route of the children from Songmu Village Primary School. CCTV journalists conducted a survey, finding that students who walk more than two hours to return home account for one-third of the total number of students.
January 24th CCTV News Channel again broadcasted the report of journalists following the children home after school. The children started their journey home at 3:10 pm, with the mountains completely covered in snow and slippery roads. It took the children more than three hours, arriving home at 6:30 pm. The lens captured Xiuping's frostbitten hands and tears of gratitude for her parents. Xiuping said to the camera, "Although going to and from school is very hard, I will definitely study hard."