President Xi Jinping has urged rural teachers to enhance their teaching skills and nurture more capable young people with sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility and work skills needed to join and carry on the socialist cause.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent his greetings to teachers and educators across the country ahead of the 41st Teachers' Day, which falls on Wednesday.

In a reply letter to eight rural teachers who participated in the special-post teacher recruitment program, Xi said that many teachers involved in the program have actively devoted themselves to rural education. Rooted in their posts, they have dedicated their efforts to teaching with diligence and selfless commitment, demonstrating the profound sense of mission and responsibility of educators, he said.

Xi emphasized that teachers are the foundation of education. He expressed the hope that educators will remain true to their original aspiration, continuously improve their teaching capabilities, and guide students with care and affection to ensure their healthy growth.

Premier Li Qiang also made an instruction on the program. Li said that educators in the country should fully implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue and holistic development through education and teach in places where the motherland and the people need them the most, contributing more to building a leading country in education.

Launched in 2006, the special-post teacher recruitment program is a central government-funded initiative aimed at recruiting college graduates to teach in rural primary and middle schools across China's central and western regions. Since its implementation, the program has employed a total of 1.18 million teachers, covering more than 30,000 rural schools in over 1,000 counties across 22 provincial-level regions.

In their letter to Xi, eight representatives of the program reported on their experience working at the forefront of rural education, and reiterated their determination to stay committed to their mission and continue teaching in rural areas.

China has adopted several other initiatives to promote rural education.

In 2021, the "Outstanding Teachers Program" was launched to cultivate 10,000 teachers annually to serve high schools in the once-impoverished counties, as well as border counties, in the central and western regions.

Policies aimed at improving teachers' livelihoods, including annual subsidies, salary hikes and the construction of dormitories, have made rural teaching more sustainable. As of last year, 76.23 percent of rural teachers held a bachelor's degree or higher, a dramatic increase compared with a decade ago.

Ma Hongbing, deputy director of the Finance Ministry's Department of Science, Education and Culture, said the central government has invested 45 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) in the past five years to hire and train more high-quality teachers in the central and western regions.

Liu Xiantao, a teacher in Zunyi, Guizhou province, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Tuesday, said he became interested in the profession of teaching as a young boy because Teachers' Day falls right after his birthday.

Liu, who recently earned a bachelor's degree in history from Beijing Normal University, is among the first group of graduates of the "Outstanding Teachers Program". He currently teaches history at Chacheng Senior High School in Meitan county, a former nationally designated poverty-stricken area in Zunyi.

Liu's decision to return to his roots was deeply influenced by his own educational experience. Growing up in a remote town in Yuqing county of Zunyi, he had limited exposure to the wider world. His primary school Chinese teacher, Ms Li, opened his eyes to the power of knowledge and compassion, Liu said.

Like many of his peers, Liu was tempted by the dynamic urban life in Beijing. But through volunteering and teaching practice in rural schools, he rediscovered his life's purpose.

Chacheng Senior High School, where Liu now works, was recently established to serve students who do not score well in their high school entrance exams. For many, it represents a last chance to continue formal education before possibly turning to low-skilled work or early marriage, he said.

"Every day here is a challenge, but also a gift," he said. "When parents thank me with their voice filled with sincerity, when my students and I win the first place in military training, when I see their eyes light up during a history lesson — these are the moments that make me the happiest, and they happen every day."

This year, Liu's birthday wish is simple, yet profound. "May I become a better teacher over the next year, and may my students achieve satisfactory grades in the next three years and become someone noteworthy in life," he said.