Help for residents

The voluntary teaching sessions undertaken by Xu and his seven peers also helped older residents.

Sun Jinxiu, who hails from a village in Linyi, has two sons. Her eldest boy, who is now 14, attended Xu's classes in 2020.

Sun was grateful to the volunteers because she had been worried that she might unwittingly confuse her children during discussions about puberty, so she had been afraid to discuss the issue with them face to face.

"My parents are illiterate, so I wasn't guided in the right direction when I was about 10. When my sons were 11 or 12 years old, I wanted them to be educated properly so they would understand the changes in their bodies and minds as they entered puberty," she said.

She appreciated the efforts made by the volunteer teaching team and hoped similar teachers would visit the village every year.

She said there were 3,700 households in the settlement and most families had at least one left-behind child. Because the parents didn't see their children for long periods, the grandparents became the primary caregivers but many neglected the children's development.

"Those kids lacked company, and they had difficulty communicating their feelings when they encountered new things," she said.

Tao, the initiator of the rural sex education program, said: "One single class taught by our volunteers can't fix the fundamental problems in rural sex education. However, I hope more people will be aware of the problems through this method and give more primary school students hope to face the future."

Contact the writer at xinwen@chinadaily.com.cn