Zhang Guimei: Willing to be a lamp in the mountains

"Girls, wake up!" "Silly girl, hurry up!" Early in the morning, the campus of Huaping Girls' Senior High School in Lijiang, Yunnan, sounded a voice very familiar to the students. In the summer, Huaping Girls' Senior High School in Lijiang, Yunnan sent away the 12th graduates and ushered in the new high school students.
Although she is 65 years old and suffers from a variety of diseases, her hands and neck are covered with analgesic plasters, Zhang Guimei, the party branch secretary and principal of Huaping Girls' Senior Middle School in Lijiang, Yunnan, still insists on accompanying the students every day, holding a small horn to urge the students to get up, go to class, eat, and do exercises.
Long rooted in the frontier education line, Zhang Guimei has witnessed many girls drop out of school due to family poverty and other reasons. A chance encounter on a home visit many years ago gave her the dream of starting a free women's Senior high school. A 13-year-old girl sat on the side of the road, looking sadly into the distance. Zhang Guimei came forward to inquire and learned that her parents wanted her to drop out of school and marry for the bride price of 30000 yuan. Zhang Guimei wanted to take the girl away, but the girl's mother was forced to die. She had no choice but to give up.
In September 2008, with the help of the party, the government and all walks of life, Zhang Guimei finally realized her dream. The country's first free girls' Senior high school school-Yunnan Lijiang Huaping Girls' Senior High School was completed and opened. On the opening day, looking at the only teaching building of the school, Zhang Guimei burst into tears.
For more than ten years since the establishment of Huaping female high school, Zhang Guimei has always insisted on living in student dormitories. At 5:15 every day, she gets up and turns on the lights in the corridor of the teaching building in advance for the students; during the day, when the students are in class, she will go to every class to ensure that the teacher teaches carefully and the students listen carefully; when the students eat, she holds The trumpet urged the students to hurry up to eat; after checking the dormitory at 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, she returned to her single bed......
In the first few years of the school, she could also run with her students. However, due to long-term overwork, her body gradually overwhelmed. "Students score low and score high, and women's high scores are the result of teacher Zhang's life." Hua Ping female high teacher Zhu Rong said.
In addition to accompanying students at school, Zhang Guimei has always had the habit of making home visits during winter and summer vacations, almost every
A female high school student leaves her footprints at home.
Nowadays, such home visits over mountains and mountains have become more and more difficult. Because of severe rheumatism, her feet are so swollen that it is difficult to wear shoes, and sometimes it hurts so much that she can only use a wheelchair. Before the winter vacation in January this year, her colleagues advised her again and again that her feet were swollen like this, so it was better to take advantage of the holiday to have a good rest. Zhang Guimei promised to take good care of herself, but as soon as she had a holiday, she hurried to set foot on the road of home visit.
Shan Qiyan, a 2014 graduate of Huaping Female High School, still clearly remembers that Zhang Guimei found herself selling sugar cane at a street stall during a home visit. "In the third year of high school, my father was in poor health and the family was very difficult. I wanted to carry some sugar cane to the town to sell money. I didn't expect to be caught by Teacher Zhang." Shan Qiyan said, "Since then, Teacher Zhang often secretly stuffed me with money, telling me not to worry about the difficulties at home and concentrate on studying."
Since the establishment of the school, more than 2000 graduates of Huaping Female High School have been admitted to the university. "In the past ten years or so, what we are most proud of is that we can send girls from so many mountains to college." Zhang Guimei said that many female high school students have now graduated from university and become teachers, doctors, soldiers, policemen ...... "Children go wherever the motherland needs them. No matter on which front, they can make their own contribution to the country."
"I feel extremely honored and responsible to be elected as the representative of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China." Zhang Guimei said, "We must insist on being the'lamplights' in the mountains and valleys, illuminate the way for children to move forward, cultivate more talents for the party and the country, let the party rest assured, and satisfy the people."

Zhang Guimei (middle), secretary of the party branch and principal of Huaping Girls' Senior Middle School in Lijiang, Yunnan, inspects students' classes in the classroom (photo taken on December 1, 2020)
 

Source: Party member network