Heroic head strives to rebuild school

Ye Zhiping is not the type of man who waits for others to offer him assistance, he just rolls up his sleeves and gets on with it. The headmaster of Sangzao Middle School in Anxian county, Mianyang city, one of the worst-hit areas in the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, shot to fame for keeping all of his students and staff safe as a result of years of evacuation drills, a rare practice in a rural school. And now, while others are waiting for help, this heroic headmaster is working flat out to raise the funds needed to rebuild his school. "So far we have raised only 96,000 yuan ($13,700), which is far from enough," Ye said, adding that several buildings at the school suffered severe damage in the quake. Attending a disaster-prevention conference yesterday in Beijing, Ye stressed the importance of raising students' disaster... [read full story]