The Jiayi Primary Boarding School is located in Gonghe County in the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. The school stands on the southern shore of the picturesque Qinghai Lake. All of its more than 100 students are able to speak fluent English.
Two foreigners work at the school. Konou Caheorg from Norway is the headmaster. He can speak fluent Tibetan, and has a Tibetan name, Gazang Dogye. St. Paul is from the United States and teaches English.
The Jiayi School is located in the heart of the grassland, 3,600 meters above sea level. As people approach the school, they can see the Five-Star Red Flag, the national flag of China, fluttering in the wind. The school has a two-story teaching building, two rows of flat-roofed houses, and a sports ground. When I entered the school, I saw Konou teaching. He was using Tibetan to teach the fourth-grade students geography. According to Teacher Zhaxigya, Konou came to the school five years ago, and could not speak a word of the language. After two years of study though, he was able to teach the students in their mother tongue. Although he is fluent in Tibetan, he speaks broken Mandarin.
Konou is 36 years old and unmarried. During his first visit to Qinghai, one of the provinces in western China, he was fascinated by the profound culture of the Tibetan ethnic group and the landscapes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has been called the Third Pole. Deeply touched by the lack of educational resources, he decided to help the Tibetan children.
Before Konou's arrival, an American girl, named Nyimaco in Tibetan, had taught English at the school for three years. In Norway, his monthly wages equaled 20,000 yuan. Here he gets only 500 yuan a month. "The children here need me, so I don't care about how much money I make. I love them very much," said Konou.
He has worked very hard to improve the education of the Tibetan community. Teacher Zhaxigya said that because of Konou's efforts more and more people have changed their minds and have sent their children to school. The students of this primary school enter middle school with excellent scores, especially in English. It is Konou who raised funds to build the school's teaching building. "He has always been a friend to us," the local Tibetans said.
There are 21 students from impoverished families who are unable to pay school tuition. To help them, he paid 6,500 yuan towards their tuition. "This sum of money is nothing to me. I am very happy to see these students continue their studies," he said.
St. Paul, who is 50 years old, arrived at the school last year with his wife and three children. "I can concentrate on my teaching, and my children can learn a lot here," Paul said.
There were many yurts (tents) on the grassland when Konou first arrived at the school. Today, brick houses have replaced most of the yurts. According to him, if he marries a Tibetan girl, he will settle down on the grassland.
At present, the Chinese teachers at the school are learning English from their two foreign colleagues. Both the Chinese and foreign teachers have a goal: To turn their primary school into the first school on the grassland to specialize in foreign-language education.
(China Pictorial February 21, 2003)
