Students from a primary school in Aksu receive donations from Hangzhou Caihe Middle School. [Photo/WeChat account: zhejiangyuanjiang]

Hangzhou teacher Ren Kangping was one of the first English teachers appointed by the Ministry of Education in 2018 to support education in Aksu prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Although she was assigned to help train local teachers and build up a research center in her initial days, Ren volunteered to teach English for several grade seven students when learning about the absence of their teacher. She also kept visiting four rural primary and middle schools every week, helping evaluate classes, as well as organizing various teaching and researching activities there.

Over the past one and a half year in Aksu, Ren has impacted 76 rural schools, where she has carried out more than 70 activities exchanging teaching and management experiences, evaluated over 100 classes, as well as offered one-on-one support to more than 70 teachers. A total of 13 teachers instructed by her have won titles at local teaching competitions.

Though she has completed her supporting education assignment in Aksu and has returned to Hangzhou, Ren continues to have the students and teachers there in her mind, offering online classes and sharing the latest educational resources with them.

Last October, Ren raised 10,000 yuan ($1,570) from Hangzhou Caihe Middle School to donate it to a primary school in Aksu. This January, an additional 5,000 yuan was raised for the school.

"Our Caihe Middle School will regularly carry out charity sales and raise money for the Aksu school," Ren said.

Students in Aksu are eager to learn. [Photo/WeChat account: zhejiangyuanjiang]