Warm meal between teacher and student...

(Baonghean) - Whenever I think of Mong students, I often think of the scene of three or four children gathered around a pot of rice and a bowl of spring water mixed with salt for soup placed on the ground in a thatched hut, each child using a spoon to scoop up rice and eat deliciously. Those innocent, dirty faces, their eyes stinging from the kitchen smoke, haunt me forever.

But this time, when I arrived at Nam Can Secondary School (Ky Son), standing under the ancient sycamore tree, looking at the spacious school, I was strangely happy. Especially, when I witnessed the lunch of the boarding students with my own eyes, I completely forgot the haunting bowl of "salt soup" from that day.

After a drum beat signaling mealtime, students from the dormitory buildings filed into the dining room. Everyone’s face was filled with excitement. A large pot of rice, a plate of fish, and a bowl of soup were neatly placed on the table. The students sat neatly at the table. The bowls of rice, filled with the warmth of teacher-student and friendliness, were simple yet cozy. That meal seemed very ordinary to students from the lowlands, but it was a joy for the children in this remote mountainous area.

Lunch of students at Nam Can Secondary School (Ky Son).

Seeing strangers, the students were shy and timid. Lau Y Ly, an 8th grader, said: “Before, I would only light the stove to cook rice after school. On weekends, my friends would go home to get firewood and rice to bring to school. Our house is very far from school, so we had to walk all morning. Now, after school, we have rice to eat, and everyone likes it.” With a dormitory kitchen, from now on, the students only need to focus on studying, not worrying about being hungry, or going home to get firewood and vegetables.

Mr. Lo Kham Phu, the school's principal, said: "In order to implement Decree 85 of the Government on supporting boarding meals for students in ethnic minority areas, the school has built a kitchen and arranged a person in charge of the kitchen to take care of meals for students. Nam Can Secondary School has 124 students who are eligible for one lunch at school at the rate of 17,000 VND/person. We try to increase production and proactively source food, so we can organize for the students to have 2 meals/day, and breakfast is mainly instant noodles or cakes."

Every week, outside of class time, teachers and students take the time to dig the land and plant vegetables. Many stories and situations are shared by students. Through that, teachers can grasp the students' situation in a timely manner. Each season has its own vegetables, the school's vegetable garden is always ready for cooking. Sometimes green bananas are used to make soup, sometimes kohlrabi, squash, pumpkin, water spinach, sweet potato leaves... provide enough for the kitchen.

In addition to the clean vegetables produced by the school, the school also raises pigs for meat. Thanks to that, the amount of money for one meal is divided into three meals. The meals are arranged reasonably, including meat and vegetables, which are a source of energy to help the children go to school. Thanks to the boarding meals, the number of students absent from school has decreased significantly, the quality of teaching and learning has improved; the children have become familiar with hygienic eating habits...

In the near future, the school will start building a new dormitory, creating accommodation for 60 students currently living in tents and shacks around the school. This is truly a major step forward in education in this remote area.

NL