Recently, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a notice to deploy the 2026 Silver-Age Teaching Program, recruiting 6,000 retired teachers at the compulsory education stage to serve in remote and hardship areas. The program mainly targets poverty-stricken counties, underdeveloped ethnic minority counties, old revolutionary base counties, and border counties, with priority given to key counties receiving national rural revitalization assistance. It aims to promote balanced allocation of high-quality teaching resources and build a high-level teaching workforce for the new era.
China has cumulatively recruited more than 40,000 silver-age teachers. The retired teachers recruited under the 2026 Silver-Age Teaching Program are mainly principals, teaching researchers, special-grade teachers, and backbone teachers. They primarily serve primary and secondary schools and kindergartens in county towns and rural areas, with a service period of generally no less than one academic year. The working funds are jointly guaranteed by the central and local governments at a standard of 20,000 yuan per person per year. Since its launch in 2018, the program has cumulatively recruited more than 40,000 silver-age teachers. Among them, 20,000 have been recruited over the past three years, serving more than 15,000 primary and secondary schools and kindergartens. The implementation covers 22 provinces and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, effectively alleviating the shortage of outstanding teachers and the structural shortage of subject teachers in rural and remote areas. In 2023, the Ministry of Education and nine other departments jointly issued the National Silver-Age Teacher Action Plan. In the basic education field, the plan was optimized and upgraded on the basis of the primary and secondary school silver-age teaching program, coordinating the advancement of five major fields: basic education, higher education, vocational education, lifelong education, and private education. Silver-age teachers play the role of "seeds" and "mentors," promoting the flow of advanced educational concepts and high-quality educational resources to rural and disadvantaged areas.
Silver-age teachers ignite children's dreams of scientific innovation. Sichuan Province's 2026 Silver-Age Teaching Program is expected to recruit 95 retired teachers. In Pingshan County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province, retired teacher Huang Huilin returned to the podium he loves through this program, dedicating himself to science education and lighting up the dreams of scientific and technological innovation for children in mountainous areas. Jinjiang Junior High School is a public middle school located in Pingshan County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province. In the science exploration space, 63-year-old science and technology counselor Huang Huilin is leading students from the school's science and technology club to debug equipment in preparation for the provincial aeromodelling and science innovation competition in November this year. Huang Huilin has taught for 40 years and holds a senior teacher title. Before retirement, he was the leader of the information technology subject at a junior high school. After retiring in 2023, he proactively learned new knowledge and skills such as drone operation, robot programming, and science innovation practice activities, and then joined the Silver-Age Teaching Program to continue engaging in the science education he loves. Pingshan County was once a nationally designated poverty-stricken county, and local students had limited access to cutting-edge science and innovation resources. To address this, Huang Huilin slowed down his teaching pace, providing hands-on demonstrations and guidance, encouraging students to boldly experiment and build experience and confidence through hands-on practice. Seeing the students' growth, Huang Huilin was reluctant to leave. After the original one-year service period ended, he chose to extend it time and again. Over more than three years, he has guided students to participate in youth science and technology innovation competitions at various levels as well as robot and drone competitions, winning multiple awards and achieving a breakthrough as the first local youth to win a national-level science and innovation competition. At the same time, he has proactively mentored younger teachers, helping them grow rapidly through mentorship. Currently, Huang Huilin is leading students to explore cutting-edge humanoid robots. He said that scientific and technological innovation must start from a young age, and as long as he is needed, he will keep going, planting the seeds of curiosity in the hearts of children in mountainous areas.
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