Wu Songyan teaches students in Gongping Primary School located in Goudong Village in Renqiao Town of Bengbu City in Anhui Province, on April 18, 2016. Wu has been teaching here since she graduated from college in September 1993. [Photo by Li Bin/China.com.cn]

Wu Songyan, 43, has been teaching in a small village school since she graduated from college in September 1993. She has dedicated herself to the work and is praised and much respected by villagers.

Wu's Gongping Primary School is located in Goudong Village, 15 kilometers west of Renqiao Town of Bengbu City in Anhui Province, where the total population is 54,000.

Currently, there are 31 students spreading over the three classes that Wu teaches. They come from several villages in the area, and 70 percent are children left behind by parents seeking job in larger cities and towns, sometimes very far away.

Wu's motto is, "Who loves children will be loved by them in return; only love can educate the young," a quotation from Russian writer Maxim Gorky. She believes that, "Love can warm a child's heart; love can make a child more confident."

As a qualified teacher, Wu is careful and serious in all of her work. She is very familiar with the situation of every class and each individual student. In addition to her daily teaching workload, she likes to visit students' homes so as to improve the quality of their education by taking into consideration their views and feelings.

In Wu's class, a girl named Liu Shuaimei had an unfortunate experience. She was brought up by her grandparents and hadn't lived with her parents until she was a third grade pupil in 2008. Of all their children, the parents doted on the eldest boy. The lack of parental attention created physical and psychological problems for the girl.

Seeing that she suffered from such severe frostbite on winter that she couldn't even hold a pencil, Wu bought scarf, gloves, a thick coat and chilblain cream for her. At the same time, Wu started an activity she called "sending warmth" in her classroom to help the girl. It gained wide support, her classmates donating writing materials and snacks to help Shuaimei.

Later, the girl enrolled in a nearby middle school. "She still comes to visit me during weekends and likes to have heart-to-heart talks with me," Wu said.

Wu is an optimistic person with a strong will. She always wears a smile on her face at school, even if there is a problem in her own life.

Her father-in-law suffered from bowel cancer in 2006 and her mother-in-law had a sudden heart attack in 2007. She took great care of them. Her husband was diagnosed with uremia in May 2015. He proposed divorce so as not to become a burden to her. "We are husband and wife, and I will be with you all my life. I am not afraid of any hardship," she replied.

Currently, Wu's husband goes to local hospital three times each week to receive dialysis treatment, and his condition is basically stable. Thinking of the future, Wu's desire is that her students can learn and grow happily and healthily.

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