Volunteers advance education and ethnic unity at isolated post in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region

At Xieyite Primary School, located on the Pamir Plateau, just 47 kilometers from China's border with Kyrgyzstan, a team of 28 volunteer teachers has become the backbone of education for local children.

The team is led by 26-year-old Yan Zefeng, a member of the "Go West" volunteer service program from Shanxi province. In his third year of teaching in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Yan credits the isolated post with helping forge his values and point him toward his life's purpose.

After President Xi Jinping publicly praised the team's efforts in advancing local education, promoting ethnic unity and contributing to prosperity and stability in the border region in a reply to the letter from Yan and his fellows, Yan felt a renewed sense of purpose while learning how to create simple animated educational videos using artificial intelligence.

"Using AI and other new technologies to make abstract knowledge easier to understand will help children grasp concepts much better," he said.

Yan also described how, in mathematics, the volunteers are actively experimenting with scenario-based teaching. They use real-life examples relevant to the children, such as "counting sheep while herding" and "dividing land for planting vegetables" to illustrate concepts and make the subject more engaging and enjoyable.

Over the past four years, more than 70 "Go West" volunteers have followed in their footsteps, throwing themselves into grassroots education and significantly improving the students' academic performance, earning widespread respect and praise from the community.

"We have nearly 300 students here, mostly from the Kirgiz ethnic group, whose parents are primarily herders and border patrol officers," said Li Na, the school's Party secretary.

She noted the school's overall performance used to be among the worst of the 60-plus primary schools in Artux, Xinjiang. Now, it has surged to second place.

In August 2022, the school became the first in the Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture to be designated as a "Go West" volunteer-supported teaching center. In the lead-up to the May Fourth Youth Day in 2025, the team of volunteers was awarded the prestigious China Youth May Fourth Medal.

Another volunteer from Shanxi, Li Lei, often contemplates the meaning of "country" and "home".

"For me, the 'country' is what the border patrol officers guard day and night, while 'home' is this bright classroom that I and the children have built together with Chinese characters and pinyin," she said.

"We connect 'country' and 'home' with chalk, letting the sound of cheerful reading become the most beautiful song of peace in the western frontier of our motherland. I chose to volunteer because I wanted to go to the place where the country and its people need me most, to plant a forest of future possibilities."

Yan and Li will complete their three-year service terms in July, but both have already decided to stay in Xinjiang and continue to contribute to the development of this region.

Contact the writers at zhuxingxin@chinadaily.com.cn