That's one to get to the top of the class… The terrifying climb of Chinese schoolchildren as young as five forced to scale sheer cliffs to get to school

• Mountain-top village of only 100 residents is cut off from the outside world, apart from ladders leading to valley below
• Brave schoolchildren use the wooden ladders with no safety precautions to get to school every day
• Five-year-old Liu Dan explained: 'It's quite high but I try not to look down'

By Olivia Williams

Published: 15:13 EDT, 15 April 2013 | Updated: 08:56 EDT, 16 April 2013

These schoolchildren in southern China are so keen to get to school that they make the perilous journey on narrow wooden ladders every day, with no safety precautions.

Their village in the remote Badagong mountains in Sangzhi county is surrounded by sheer drops on every side, making the school run a daily struggle.

The only way out of Zhang Jiawan village, unless the children have time for a four-hour cross country detour, is via a series of rickety-looking ladders leading down to the valley below.

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Terrifying: Children clamber down these unsecured ladders to get to school in Hunan province, China

Precarious: This little girl balances her three bags leaving her only one hand to scale the mountain to get to school

Uphill struggle: Staff at the school face a difficult commute to work on the enormous wooden ladders

Their anxious parents have no choice but to let them use the ladders if they want to get an education.

So when youngsters like five-year-old Liu Dan start school at the nearest town, the first thing they have to learn is how to climb.

'In centuries past these mountains were a fortress for the villagers. The land is good and the farms thrive but it is hard to get in and out,' said one local.

Liu admitted: 'It's quite high but I try not to look down.' 

Steady as they go: Staff hold the narrow ladders steady for the next person to gingerly come down after them

Team work: A schoolgirl tries to help by holding it steady while she prepares to go next

At home: 5-year-old Yu Xinxin, who climbs the ladders to school every day, reading before she sets off on her long morning journey

'My parents showed me how to do it safely and now I don't think too much about how high it is,' she added.

Villagers have asked local officials to supply a road down to the valley so that these children do not have to risk their lilves.

However, the road over the difficult terrain would cost nearly £10 million so residents are not getting their hopes up that it will happen any time soon.

'There are fewer than 100 people living there. It would be cheaper to buy them all helicopters,' said one.

Preparations: Yu Xinxin's morning routine is just like any other schoolgirl's until she leaves home to make the dangerous journey down the mountain

Isolated: The village in the steep mountains where the children set off from every day to go to the valley below

Daunting prospect: Yu Qiyun, who uses the ladders every day, at home with his family