91-year-old teacher watches over left-behind children: As long as I have breath, I will keep children in school
Ye Lianping, now 91 years old, taught English for 40 years. After retiring, he set up a "Home for Left-Behind Children" at his own expense, providing free tutoring for left-behind children for 18 years, and still persists in teaching classes and grading homework. He said: "I am willing for my last breath to be breathed out on the podium."
△ A photo of Ye Lianping taken by a foreigner during his time working at the embassy (Photo/The Paper)
After Liberation, he and several colleagues opened a literacy night school, and from then on he fell in love with the classroom. Over the following ten years, despite going through hardships, he never gave up learning, dreaming of returning to the classroom. In 1978, Ye Lianping returned to teaching at a school, until he retired in 1988 from Bucheng School in He County, Ma'anshan, Anhui.
In the eyes of the villagers, Ye Lianping is an "odd person." Earning a monthly pension of three to four thousand yuan, he nevertheless often rides 7 km to town to buy groceries just to save a few cents, and even picks up vegetables discarded by vendors to take home, and is unwilling to spend money on bus fares when traveling far... Yet he is very generous with the children. He spends all his savings on the children, paying out of his own pocket to charter vehicles and organize summer camp trips for left-behind children to broaden their horizons.
Starting in 2013, Ye Lianping also took out part of his pension and established the "Ye Lianping Scholarship." Teacher Ye said: "This prize money can't solve any problems; the purpose is to encourage the children to make further progress."
Once, a student had just been admitted to a preschool teachers' school, but because her family circumstances were poor and she lived far away, she could not come for tutoring. When Teacher Ye learned of this, he asked friends everywhere to help her buy a second-hand electric scooter. Teacher Ye did not want to give up on any student, teaching without discrimination: as long as you are willing to learn, he is willing to teach. In June 2012, Ye Lianping was even elected as one of "China's Good People."
Teacher Ye's clothes always show traces of mending. Pointing to a patch on his collar, he said with a smile: "Do you see any patches on me? What does it matter? If it's patched, it's patched." For Teacher Ye, being able to pass on knowledge and help children is the most comforting thing of all.
A retirement life that never idles
Having been retired for 28 years, Ye Lianping has hardly ever been idle. Whenever a school teacher takes leave, they all ask him to substitute.
The substitute teaching pay was 300 yuan a month, but he gave it all back to the school. He bought 6 second-hand organs for 5 primary schools, installed electric lights for Songqiao Primary School, planted 100 metasequoia trees for Longwang Primary School, planted 220 white poplar trees for Huangba Primary School, and so on.
Later, when he saw that children disliked studying because they could not learn English well, and that many left-behind children had no one to tutor their homework, he set up an English classroom at home (the "Home for Left-Behind Children"). On ordinary days he tutored the children with their homework, and on weekends he gathered the children for English lessons. All the books and teaching aids were purchased by him alone.
Because it was volunteer teaching with no fees charged, and the students' grades were all very good, many people naturally came to him by reputation, which also drew all kinds of "gossip," but Teacher Ye did not care. Teaching and educating people is not for others to see; it is for peace of mind.
A grandfather, and also a teacher
If a teacher is a candle, then Teacher Ye is that beam of light for these children.
Once, Teacher Ye accidentally fell in the middle of the night. After being sent to the hospital, he was found to have cerebral hemorrhage plus meningitis. Although the surgery was very risky, Teacher Ye's operation was very successful. During his illness, what he worried about most was still those lovely children. Teacher Ye said: "Although I have no children of my own, my students are my children. These children may be even better than children I might have raised myself."
Teacher Ye deeply understands the importance of knowledge. In his eyes, no matter how poor a student is, they should never give up the opportunity to learn. He helped children from extremely poor families go to school, helped children from poor families with tutoring, and helped rural schools in poor conditions supplement their teaching supplies. The small things he spoke of all subtly influenced the children.
Teacher Ye said: "
As a teacher, the seeds I sowed have been harvested, and it is a great harvest. This is my greatest joy. I hope my last breath will be breathed out on the podium, not in bed. As long as I have a little strength, as long as I can work, as long as I have this breath, I will never give up.
”
In the hearts of the children,
Ye Lianping is a good teacher,
and even more, a good grandfather.
Through his actions, he tells people
that giving brings more happiness than taking.
▌Source: CCTV News, compiled from China News Service, The Paper, and People's Daily