Zuozhen Elementary School

Zuozhen Elementary traces to a March 1918 branch classroom of Xinhua's founding school, formally established on April 1, 1920, as a satellite teaching site with about 60 students. It became independent in 1921, relocated the following year, and underwent several renamings through the postwar period. The campus was severely damaged in the January 1964 Baiho earthquake and rebuilt, and a 2016 earthquake caused further structural damage, with new facilities completed in 2020. Enrollment has fallen dramatically from over 1,000 students historically to roughly 51 recently, reflecting the district's severe rural depopulation, though the school still runs a traditional Chinese music ensemble founded in 1994 that has won regional competition awards. Its most notable alumnus is Chen Chunmu (陳春木), a self-taught fossil collector and local historian nicknamed the "Fossil Grandfather" (化石爺爺), whose finds along the Cailiao Creek helped establish Zuozhen's paleontological and "Zuozhen Man" fame.

左鎮國小校史可追溯至大正7年（1918年）3月新化創始學校的分教室，正式設立於大正9年（1920年）4月1日，初期約有60名學生的分校教學點。大正10年（1921年）獨立設校，隔年遷校，其後歷經數次更名。校舍曾於民國53年（1964年）白河大地震中嚴重受損並重建，民國105年（2016年）地震再度造成結構損害，新校舍於2020年完工。學生人數從歷史上逾千人大幅下降至近年僅約51人，反映左鎮地區嚴重的鄉村人口外流。儘管如此，學校仍持續經營創立於民國83年（1994年）的國樂團，屢獲地區競賽獎項。最知名校友為自學成才的化石收藏家暨地方文史工作者陳春木，人稱「化石爺爺」，其在菜寮溪沿岸的化石發現，奠定了左鎮古生物學及「左鎮人」的知名度。