On September 10, on the occasion of the 36th Teachers’ Day, the “Rural Dream Builders - 2020 National Outstanding Special-Post Teachers” award ceremony was held in the auditorium of the Ministry of Education.

Prior to the ceremony, Minister of Education Chen Baosheng met with 10 award-winners from 10 provinces, and congratulated them on winning the title of “Dream Builders” for rural children from deprived backgrounds. He relayed President Xi Jinping’s recognition and commendation of their indispensable role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and in the “poverty alleviation through education” campaign. He encouraged them to keep up the commendable work and make even greater contributions to China’s educational cause.

At the ceremony, the Minister pointed out that the “special teaching posts” program was instrumental in addressing a long-standing shortage of teaching in rural areas, recruiting over 950, 000 highly qualified teachers in 15 years – the largest teacher recruitment program since the founding of the PRC in 1949. The teachers recruited through the program have become an important force in the development of rural education and the revitalization of the countryside, by improving the quality of rural compulsory education and promoting educational equity. Chen commended the dedication of these teachers to rural education dispensed with love and wisdom, and thanked them for “helping prevent intergenerational poverty and igniting the dreams of millions of rural children”. He encouraged them to set an example for future college graduates following in their footsteps.

As part of the effort to communicate President Xi Jinping’s message to the teacher community, the ten award-winners will tour a number of HEIs in Beijing to share their experiences of teaching in rural areas with college students. They will also appear on the CCTV program called “Special-Post Teacher Auditorium” to share their life stories, scheduled to be aired at 19:30 on the evenings of September 12 and 13.