Every morning, first-grader Hwang Wol Gym leaves for school on the same yellow bus as the three members of her family. One of them attends kindergarten, while others go to the third and fifth grade. First grader Ms. Hwan is 70 years old. Those family members who ride with her in the yellow school bus are her grandchildren.
Life story
Throughout her life, a woman has not been able to get an education. And she always remembers how, sixty years ago, as a little girl, she hid behind a tree and cried, seeing her peers running to school. While other children were learning to write and read, Hwang stayed home to care for pigs, gather firewood, and look after younger sisters and brothers.
She later married, gave birth and raised six children, each of whom was educated at school or college. And yet, Hwang was always upset that she was not literate like other mothers. After all, most of all she dreamed of writing letters to her children.
School problems
And in her declining years, her dream came true. The local school, in which there was a shortage of children, did its best to attract students to its classes. The fact is that in recent decades, the birth rate in South Korea has fallen significantly, becoming one of the lowest in the world. The rural districts suffer the most from this demographic situation. It is here that children are born very rarely, as young people tend to migrate to large cities, where there are offers of higher-paying jobs.
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As in other rural schools, Tagu Elementary School, located in the district where Ms. Hwang lives, has always had a tendency to reduce students. Their number was difficult to compare with the 1980s. At that time (it was then that the 42-year-old younger son of Ms. Hwang, Chae Ken, was studying here) there were 90 students in each class. To date, the entire school has only 22 pupils. Among them, and one student attending the fourth and fifth grade.
Saving idea
According to school principal Lee Joo Young, teachers were sent to neighboring villages this year to search for children who were to go to first grade. But there were no such kids. And then the locals, who decided to save their 96-year-old school, decided to offer to enroll elderly residents of the village who could not write or read.
Thus, Ms. Kwan, along with seven other women, whose age ranged from 56 to 80 years, and became a student. And four more residents of the village expressed a desire to attend school from next year. Thus, this institution has been preserved. It is simply necessary for those young people who decide to stay in their area. Would they start a family where there is no school?
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The same opinion is shared by one of Ms. Hwan's sons. Five years ago, he quit a factory producing spare parts, and from a big city he moved to his village to continue to engage in the farming business started by his parents. The man is sure that children are what brings joy and gives hope for the continuation of the future.
The local education department supported this idea, and Ms. Hwang began attending classes at school.
Joy of a first grader
Like many children who first came to school, Ms. Hwan cried. However, these were tears of joy. For a long time she could not believe that all this was happening to her. After all, carrying a school bag was a dream of her life.
The once-crowded Tagu Elementary School looks deserted. The same deserted is the sandy playground in front of it, surrounded by pine trees, rose hips and camellias.
Entering the two-story school building, grandmothers and children change their shoes in slippers and disperse along the corridors decorated with local jade-green vases of celadon color.
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In first grade, Ms. Hwan, along with two other grandmothers, is working hard, deciding to learn to read and write.
The lessons
How are classes in this unusual class? In one lesson, Ms. Hwang and her classmates sang 10 vowels and 14 consonants in the Korean alphabet. Their teacher Joe Yoon Jung, who is only 24 years old, wrote these letters on the blackboard. After that, she began to dictate to her students the words “raccoon”, “fisherman” and “aunt”, which they slowly wrote down in their notebooks in beautiful handwriting.
Taking breaks between exercises, Miss Joe included an optimistic song for her students, in which the words “everything is fine with my age” sounded. She also performed a dance program for giggling grandmothers. That is why, according to Ms. Hwang, she has a lot of fun at school. Satisfied with the activities of his mother and her son Ken. He says that since Ms. Hwan started going to school, she has become much happier. People around them have the impression that the smile does not leave her face at all.
Miss Park Story
Those lands in which Ms. Hwang County is located are located in the southwestern part of South Korea. Their history is typical of all rural areas, the development of which is seriously behind the country's industrialization. The rapidly aging population of this area today earns a living by growing mulberries and strawberries, as well as collecting octopuses, clams and oysters in the shallows after high tides. Among them is Jong Sim Park. This 75-year-old woman is an octopus champion in her village. Recently, however, she is most concerned about the lack of study.
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In the lesson, this first-grade student tries to focus her eyes on the notebook for a long time, taking off her glasses from time to time to wipe away the tears that appeared due to eye fatigue. She is also hard to read. And in order to practice calligraphy, she wakes up even before dawn.
Miss Park admits that her language, memory and hands are no longer working as before. Nevertheless, she is determined to learn to write and read.
Miss Park's father died when she was 8 years old. And it was this circumstance that did not allow the girl to attend school. She spent her childhood doing the work entrusted to her. For Korean families, this was not surprising. They spent their small savings on the education of their sons. The girls were forced to stay at home and look after the younger sisters and brothers.
