Kao Chin-yu (高金玉), a 65-year-old teacher and member of the Paiwan Aboriginal tribe, will retire on Aug. 1.
Kao has taught for 47 years at Sinsing Elementary School in her native Jinfong Township (金峰) in Taitung County and during that time has taken on the role of mother and esteemed colleague to many in her remote village.
As the only school in the small township, almost every resident was once her student. Kao taught three generations of one family and taught her own daughters and granddaughter as well.
PHOTO: CNA
“I treated all of them equally,” Kao said.
“She is our mom, coworker and grandma,” said Cheng Hui-feng (鄭惠芬), director of the Sinsing Elementary School.
“She is truly one of a kind,” said Sinsing Elementary principal Cheng Hen-wen (鄭漢文). “There will never be anyone again who will be able to serve so many years at the same school as she has.”
A repeat of Kao’s career is a near impossibility because teachers must now receive a higher university level of education. Teaching university graduates are now generally at least 22 years old and teachers generally retire at age 65 or younger.
For Kao to be admitted to her county’s teaching school in the late 1950s was a feat in itself. It was a “great honor” for her tribe and the underprivileged township, which is secluded in a mountainous area of a sparsely populated region, and did not have many resources.
Recalling her long-term devotion to grassroots education in Jinfong Township, Kao said her most unforgettable experience were the so-called “lunch boxes.”
Because many parents of her students were poor, some would knock on her door early in the morning and ask her to help feed their children, Kao said. By lunch time, the entire class, including Kao, would have the same thing in their lunch boxes, she said.
Aside from educating young children, Kao also enthusiastically promoted learning and knowledge among adult Paiwan men and women.
In 1992, she was cited by the Ministry of Education as the “outstanding teacher” of the year in honor of her life-long contribution to the Paiwan people.
Although Kao will officially retire on Aug. 1, township residents have decided to host a big feast for Kao today to express their deepest gratitude to a person so precious to them.
“She is the pride of our tribe and our town, “ township representative Hu Chao-ching (胡昭青) said.
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