Yang Xizai, 50, the only teacher at the Lufang village school in Yihuang county in Jiangxi province, gives a math class for 14 students, including seven pre-school children, five first-graders and two second-graders. Zhou Ke / Xinhua

Urbanization shrinks rural schools

Rural teachers make the grade

The policy was canceled in 2012, and small schools like Fengxin have recovered in many places so that young children can enroll in schools near their homes.

In these small schools, rural children get their first taste of knowledge, and teachers are devoted despite poor working conditions.

Students at Fengxin school study Chinese, mathematics, painting, singing and other activities, all taught by Wu. Though she admits she gets tired, there is always a smile on her face.

"I like kids because they are cute and lovely," she says, explaining her decision to become a village school teacher 35 years ago.

Wu believes the most important teaching technique is "patience and care."

"If you treat students like their mother does, they can feel it and they are willing to listen to you," she says.

Small schools are usually limited to students younger than the third grade. When they get older and can take better care of themselves, they move to more standard schools in village or county centers.

When she talks about students leaving every year, the talkative Wu became silent and her eyes red, but she says she is happy her students can go to better schools.

"I heard that students I once taught have been admitted by good universities almost every year in recent years. I am very proud of them," she says.

At Hougong village school, also in Jiangxi and about 370 kilometers from Fengxin school, there is only one teacher and one student.