The car stopped and bumped along the way, and two hours later, at ten o'clock in the morning, we arrived at the county town.
Principal Zheng always comes to the Education Bureau for a meeting at the beginning of every semester. He is very familiar with this road. He walked with Jiang Wanyue for more than 20 minutes and arrived at the entrance of the Education Bureau.
The Education Bureau is not big. It is a two-story office building with a yard in front. The iron gate is closed and an old man is standing as a guard next to it.
Principal Zheng was a little scared. When he came here for meetings before, the iron gate was open and the old man greeted them warmly, so he just walked in.
At this time, the iron gate was closed and the old man had a sullen face. He really didn't dare to go forward.
He was thinking, it was raining today and he was supposed to go repair the roof, so why, for no apparent reason, did he come to the Education Bureau?
While he was standing still, Jiang Wanyue had already walked over and said, "Hello, uncle. This is Principal Zheng from the Xiaojing Brigade Primary School in Hongqi Commune. This is the certificate issued by the brigade."
Principal Zheng was forced to be pushed to the front and nodded with a stiff face, just as a greeting.
The gatekeeper raised his head and asked, "What do you want?"
"It's like this." Jiang Wanyue smiled brightly, "We are looking for the office director of the Education Bureau."
The old man took out a book from the drawer and asked: "Have you registered before? What time did you make an appointment with Director Qiao?"
Principal Zheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Every time he came here, he would sit down for a meeting and leave after the meeting. At most, he would chat with the principal of the primary school next door. He didn’t even know what the office director looked like…
It was also the first time he knew that one had to register first and then make an appointment to enter the Education Bureau... He was too rash today.
"Director Qiao knows our Principal Zheng." Jiang Wanyue's smile remained unchanged. "Our school had a very good rate of admission from primary school to junior high school last year. Director Qiao praised our school. This time our principal came to discuss the children's education issues with Director Qiao. Today is a rainy day, which is perfect for chatting about these things."
After hearing that they knew Director Qiao from the office, the security guard nodded and said, "I'll go in and ask if Director Qiao has time."
When the old man came in, the sweat on Principal Zheng's forehead dripped down: "Xiao Jiang, you and I only found out today that the director of the Education Bureau is named Qiao. He doesn't know me at all, and he has never praised our school..."
"We just met today." Jiang Wanyue said, "Don't worry, Director Qiao often deals with principals of various schools. In such occasions, he has to say some polite words. How can Director Qiao remember what he said?"
Principal Zheng suddenly became even more worried.
After a while, the security guard came out and said, "Director Qiao wants you to come in."
Jiang Wanyue smiled and said, "Thank you, uncle. I will bring you some vegetables grown in the countryside later."
The two walked all the way inside, and the room at the back of the first floor was Director Qiao's office.
Principal Zheng suddenly became timid.
But in front of the young man Jiang Wanyue, he couldn't make himself look too useless, so he walked in front and knocked on the door.
It was a coincidence that Director Qiao had just finished a meeting and was drinking tea when he heard that the principal of a production brigade primary school had come to see him. It was really strange.
As the director, he is mainly responsible for comprehensive coordination, meeting publicity and other work. He usually deals with people within the bureau and higher-level units. This is the first time that a primary school below has come to him.
Although he didn't know Principal Zheng, it didn't stop him from being curious about what was going on.
"Hello, Director Qiao." Principal Zheng walked in with Jiang Wanyue. "I am the principal of the Xiaojing Brigade Primary School in Hongqi Commune. My surname is Zheng, and this is Teacher Jiang from our school."
Jiang Wanyue greeted politely: "Hello, Director Qiao."
"Please take a seat, both of you." Director Qiao said with a smile, "I remember your Xiaojing Brigade Primary School. Last year, the number of students who entered junior high school from primary school was the second-to-last in the county."
He actually had no recollection, but in order to find a topic, he specifically looked through last year's information before Jiang Wanyue and the others came in.
Hearing this, Principal Zheng wished he could find a hole to crawl into.
Hongqi Commune was poor, and Xiaojing Brigade was even poorer. Most of the children dropped out of school after the third and fourth grades. With great difficulty, a dozen students managed to reach the fifth grade. As a result, more than half of them failed the entrance examination to junior high school every year, and in the end no more than five children could go to junior high school.
"Ahem!" Jiang Wanyue touched her nose and said, "We were last in the rankings two years ago, but we made progress last year, and we will definitely make further progress this year."
Director Qiao didn't dwell on this question: "You came all the way here, why?"
"Please allow me to introduce myself. I am an educated youth from the provincial capital. I have studied there since I was a child. When I was in primary school, the curriculum included Chinese and arithmetic, as well as art, music, and science." Jiang Wanyue went straight to the point. "But as far as I know, at least 20 production team primary schools, including Xiaojing Brigade, do not have these courses. The most fundamental reason is that students cannot afford the tuition, and the Education Bureau cannot collect the textbook fees, so they simply do not print music and art textbooks."
She paused and said, "When the country was first founded, the government issued a policy that drawing classes were the most important courses for children's aesthetic education. Later, drawing classes were even changed to art classes, and the same was true for music classes. I think these courses should not be exempted so easily. It's unfair to the children."
Director Qiao sat up straight and narrowed his eyes.
Are these two here to cause trouble?
Want to report to the Education Bureau?
Jiang Wanyue continued calmly, "We came here this time to solve the problem of teaching materials for the children."
Director Qiao said seriously, "That's right. The country advocates aesthetic education, and the Education Bureau also attaches great importance to it. But you should also be aware that the Education Bureau has been running out of money for years. If we print textbooks for you, all the primary schools in the jurisdiction will have to be treated equally, which is not a small expense. If your school can collect the tuition fees, the Education Bureau will make arrangements immediately."
Jiang Wanyue said, "Director Qiao misunderstood. We want to buy a set of first-grade textbooks first and try to see if one textbook can be used for class. If this works, then other elementary schools can follow suit."
Director Qiao breathed a sigh of relief.
He was shocked when the young female teacher started talking about national policies.
Although this is the general situation in all jurisdictions at present, if it is brought up seriously, it will definitely be criticized by the higher-ups.
"So it's just a small matter." Director Qiao stood up and said, "I'll go to the warehouse to see if there are any remaining books. You two sit and wait for a while."
He walked out.
Principal Zheng was sweating all over. He couldn't understand how Xiao Jiang, a young girl, could have the courage to speak so eloquently in front of the director.
He never expected that things would go so smoothly.
After a while, Director Qiao came over with three books: art, music, and nature for first graders.
Principal Zheng quickly took out the money.
"The education bureau can hardly afford textbooks for hundreds of students, but these three books are not a big deal for them," Director Qiao said. "The books will just gather dust in the warehouse. If you take them back, the students will benefit a lot. The education bureau cannot charge you for them. By the way, I just saw a few buckets of paint in the warehouse that were not used up last year. Some of them are dry, but they can still be used. If you don't mind, you can take them back."
Principal Zheng was overjoyed: "Thank you, Director Qiao, thank you so much!"
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