25 years of nurturing talent in the rice fields

(Baonghean) - 25 years ago, in September 1991, the People's Committee of Nghe An province decided to establish Yen Thanh Gifted and Training School to realize the educational goal: "Improving people's knowledge - Training human resources - Nurturing talents" to meet the aspirations of cadres, people and students of Yen Thanh rice district.

When it was first established, the school had two missions: to both train excellent secondary school students and to train culture and professional skills for civil servants. The school was located on the old campus of the Yen Thanh District Party Committee. The first school year of 1991-1992 was also a difficult start: the school had 8 classes and 133 students (the class with the most students was 9 Math with 20 students, the class with the least students was the 7th grade Literature class with only 7 students).

School view

In the 1995-1996 school year, the school changed its name to Yen Thanh Gifted School. In the 1997-1998 school year, according to Decision 4872/QD-UBND of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, the school was honored to be named after the first laureate of Nghe An's educational land (hometown: Ma Thanh commune, Yen Thanh), and the name Bach Lieu Secondary School became a source of pride and attachment to this day.

In the early days with all those difficulties, the classrooms and offices of the teachers and staff were all dilapidated level 4 houses, with desks, chairs, blackboards, and everything was lacking. Just because of their love for learning, many children had to walk 5-7 kilometers to get to school. At the age of 12-13, many children had to stay in boarding schools or rented houses to study at the school, even though they were far from their parents, lacking both affection and material things. However, the quality of education at the school in those years achieved many successes: The school's gifted student team was always ranked in the top 3 of the province. Yen Thanh Gifted School became a prestigious address, a "brand" for teaching and learning in the whole province.

A flag-raising ceremony of Bach Lieu Secondary School (Yen Thanh).

Teachers of Bach Lieu Secondary School (Yen Thanh).

Over the past 25 years, there have been 25 courses with nearly 2,200 students graduating from secondary school, of which nearly 800 students have won the Provincial Excellent Student Award, many have won the National Excellent Student Award (a few years ago, the Ministry of Education and Training held a National Excellent Student Award for grade 9), each course has about 30% of students winning the Provincial Excellent Student title. The students are educated comprehensively and develop in terms of Morality - Intelligence - Physicality - Aesthetics.

The quality of education is not only the best among secondary schools in the district, but also ranked among the top in the province, with the percentage of students with excellent academic performance reaching over 70%, the rest are with good academic performance. The proof of that is the results of the annual 10th grade entrance exams with an average score per subject reaching 7.9 - 8.1 points per subject, ranking in the top 3/420 secondary schools in the province for many consecutive years. Many students are valedictorians of the gifted student exams, admission to grade 10, most recently in the 10th grade entrance exam in June 2016, the school had Nguyen Phan Thuy Tien with the highest total score of 47.5 in the province, and Nguyen Thi Trang was the only student to score 10 in Literature out of more than 31,000 exams. The school has created a source of excellent students for specialized high schools such as Phan Boi Chau, Vinh University High School for the Gifted, Hanoi National University of Education High School for the Gifted...

Not only are they good at studying cultural subjects, they are also educated in physical education and develop their talents. Students of Bach Lieu Secondary School have brought home many Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals in the Phu Dong Sports Festival, contributing to the achievements of the district's education. In the 2015-2016 school year, Phan Quoc Thai won the National Gold Medal in the pole pushing event, Le Thi Khanh Chi won the Third Prize in the debate on the topic of energy saving; 58 of their articles and solutions were published in newspapers and magazines such as Thieu Nien Tien Phong, Van Hoc Tuoi Tre, Toan Tuoi Tho, Phat Ly Tuoi Tre...

Give bicycles to poor but good students.

At school, students are educated in ethics, lifestyle, and life skills according to the following topics: Student behavior culture; Civilization - elegance of students of Bach Lieu Secondary School; Love for people; Love and respect for parents, politeness to teachers, kindness to friends... The school launched a movement to give warm clothes to friends in the highlands, teachers and students donated 400 sets of clothes, 6 million VND to give to friends in the highlands of Con Cuong. Teachers, students and benefactors annually donate dozens of bicycles, tens of millions of VND to many poor but excellent students.

Principal Tran Xuan Hung and two top students in the province's 10th grade entrance exam.

If in the early days of establishment, the school's teaching staff were good, experienced, dedicated teachers with the style of "Nghe scholars"; Now, the school's teaching staff are mostly young, qualified, dynamic and creative.

100% of the school's teaching staff are above standard, 24/35 comrades have achieved the title of Excellent Teacher at the provincial level, 10 teachers have from 1 to 3 provincial level 4 experience initiatives, 2 teachers have lesson plans that have won national prizes. 16 teachers were awarded Certificates of Merit by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, some teachers were recognized as provincial emulation fighters, the title of Pedagogical Talent, some comrades were awarded Certificates of Merit by the Prime Minister...

With the outstanding achievements that Bach Lieu Secondary School has achieved in recent years, the school has been honored to receive many emulation titles: for many consecutive years it has been recognized as "Excellent Provincial Labor Collective", "Strong and Clean Party Cell", "Excellent Grassroots Trade Union". It has been awarded Emulation Flags and Certificates of Merit by the Prime Minister and other levels at all levels and sectors. Preparing to enter the new school year, teachers and students of Bach Lieu Secondary School have been honored to be awarded the Third Class Labor Medal by the Party and State, and have just received the Emulation Flag of the Provincial People's Committee and the Emulation Flag of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

A quarter of a century, many generations of students have grown up, devoted themselves and contributed to their homeland in many fields: many of them are scientists working at research institutes and major centers in the United States, Germany, France... such as Hoang Danh Tai - PhD in Physics working in the United States, Nguyen Hong Duc at the Institute of Mathematics of the Federal Republic of Germany...

Many of them are PhDs teaching at major universities in and outside the country such as Nguyen Ba Binh, Tran Thi Thuy Van, Phan Xuan Hieu, Ngo Sy Vinh, Ngo Anh Tuan, Nguyen Ba Kien, Phan Van Tien, Nguyen Tien Thuy..., many of them are experts in the fields of radar, missiles, new technology, or hold positions in state management, business management... Many of them were inspired by their teachers to continue their passion for teaching, many of them are now educational management officers, excellent teachers of the province, core professionals of departments, offices and high schools.

The 25th anniversary of the school's founding is also the occasion of the new school year 2016 - 2017, the year of implementing the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress; the education sector continues to implement Resolution 29 of the Politburo on fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training. For the school, the 2016 - 2017 school year is also the year of inheriting and promoting the achievements and traditions of the past 25 years.

Students of Bach Lieu Secondary School (Yen Thanh) sing and perform Vi and Giam folk songs at the celebration of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20.

The difficulties and hardships are not over yet, but with the attention, direction and support of leaders at all levels and sectors, especially the attention, direction and support in all aspects of the District Party Committee, People's Council, District People's Committee, Yen Thanh Department of Education and Training; the enthusiastic support of parents, the efforts of the collective of teachers, staff and students... Bach Lieu Secondary School will certainly complete the school year's tasks excellently, contributing to enhancing the achievements and traditions of the school.

Tran Xuan Hung
(Principal of Bach Lieu Secondary School)