Topic: Journey of spreading knowledge in the border of the FatherlandFinal part: Continuing the story of going to school in the border area
Teachers Lo Thi Niem, Truong Thi Nghia, Trinh Thi Thu Trang... are typical names in the generation of young, daring teachers of Nghe An province. They are teachers of the 9X generation, carrying with them the full enthusiasm of youth, ready to leave the city, overcome dangerous passes and slopes to settle in the village, sow knowledge in the harsh border area. Not only dedicating their youth and unconditional love,...
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Reporter Group -Technique:Hong Toai• November 5, 2025
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Teachers Lo Thi Niem, Truong Thi Nghia, Trinh Thi Thu Trang... are typical names in the generation of young, daring teachers of Nghe An province. They are teachers of the 9X generation, carrying with them the full enthusiasm of youth, ready to leave the city, overcome dangerous passes and slopes to settle in remote villages, sow knowledge in harsh border areas. Not only dedicating their youth and unconditional love, these teachers also bring with them a spirit of creativity and innovation - from self-studying ethnic languages, practicing beautiful handwriting, to pioneering the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom...
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At Thong Thu Primary School - a school in a difficult border area, teacher Truong Thi Nghia is a character often mentioned in the writing assignments of the students. There are even students who have studied with Ms. Nghia since grade 3 but by grade 5 still describe her in their writing about the person they love the most. That sentiment is the greatest "achievement" for the dedication and love that Ms. Nghia has given to the students here.
The school is 30km from home, and her child is still young, so on average, Ms. Nghia has to go back and forth 4 times a day, covering a total of 120km of mountain passes. However, when asked about the difficulties, the young teacher did not think that the distance was an obstacle. “When I first came to the school, language was the biggest barrier I had to overcome. The students and parents were all Thai, and communicating in Thai made it difficult for me to understand their thoughts and discuss the students' learning situation with their parents. To improve the situation, I started learning Thai from my colleagues and people around me. But even though I did not understand Thai, I was welcomed by the locals, the villagers and the students here in another special language: the language of love.”
That love is expressed through sincerity in communication, warm greetings, sharing and caring wrapped with all the heart. Ms. Nghia emotionally shared: "Although life is poor and difficult, the local people live very warmly. Their small concerns make me love Thong Thu so much and want to do something meaningful for the land and people here." Ms. Nghia's wishes are realized through exciting classes, interesting lectures, creative teaching methods, academic achievements, bold statements... of the students. Not only imparting knowledge, Ms. Nghia is also known as a psychological teacher and has the talent to practice beautiful handwriting for students. In 2018, after participating in a beautiful handwriting course, Ms. Nghia persistently taught it to her students, helping them practice "handwriting - personality". Her efforts were not in vain. The neat handwriting of Thong Thu Primary School students with bold and light strokes has become the pride of many teachers here.
“Every time I see the neat, neat notebooks of the students, I cry with happiness. I often tell my students: Every day you learn something new, every day you get closer to your dream. And indeed, when I see them read more fluently, write more beautifully, solve math problems faster, I feel the complete happiness of a teacher. More than teaching, I want to instill in my students a love of learning, confidence, and belief in themselves. I believe that if those seeds are carefully planted, they will sprout and bear fruit one day, helping them have enough courage to step out into the big world. As for me, every day I get to go to school, teach my students, and see the innocent smiles on their faces is a day full of meaning,” Ms. Nghia confided.
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For more than a decade working with students in the border mountainous areas, teacher Lo Thi Niem (teacher at Keng Du 2 Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities) is not only a teacher, but also a mother, a companion, bringing the light of knowledge and technology to places where difficulties seem to have "closed the door" to all dreams.
Eleven years ago, the day she started working at Keng Du Primary School was also the first time Ms. Niem set foot in this land. The young teacher burst into tears after a whole day of overcoming winding, muddy roads in cold and rainy conditions. Missing her child, the loneliness of having no phone signal or internet was a mental struggle that only she knew. Later, when she moved to a remote school, the difficulties and loneliness once again made her want to give up. But she chose to stay and turn this place into her second home - with unconditional love.
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“Ethnic minority students have a hard life, their parents work far away, they live with their grandparents so I often invite them to live with me. The teacher and students live in a house made of wooden planks... Local people passing by, looking at the light reflected from the wooden walls, ask each other: "Maybe the teacher doesn't have any children so she brought the children to live with her for fun" - Ms. Niem recalls. After many years of working and teaching, some of her students have passed the entrance exam to the district boarding school, some are qualified to join the army and work abroad... Those small achievements are proud "steps forward" that parents and people here never thought of.
Among the many qualities of a teacher in the highlands, what makes Ms. Niem "different" is her creative spirit of overcoming difficulties to connect with the world. In the past, she had to hang her phone on the rafters to catch every signal bar and communicate with the outside world. Now, with the spirit of not giving up, the 9X teacher is determined to pioneer in digital transformation. In a place lacking in facilities, she does not hesitate to learn and apply artificial intelligence (AI) to her work.
“When Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology began to be widely applied in education, I once again set myself on a new learning journey. I started using AI tools to support lesson planning, design lesson illustrations, create experiential games... Technology is not a barrier, but an opportunity - if we know how to grasp it and constantly innovate" - Ms. Niem shared.
In the context of the whole country's digital transformation, Ms. Niem has proven that geographical distance cannot be a barrier to thinking. She researched and applied technology to save time, thereby devoting more effort to organizing experiential activities and integrating local culture. Not only carrying letters up the mountain with the people, Ms. Niem has contributed to changing awareness and fueling the desire to escape poverty sustainably of the young generation of Keng Du.
Every time she overcomes the steep slopes to reach the small school perched precariously on the hillside in Co Phat, teacher Trinh Thi Thu Trang feels like she is returning to a familiar place, where there are children's eyes eagerly waiting for her, where her heart seems to have found the most meaningful part of her life.
Born in 1994 in Mon Son commune, old Con Cuong district (now Con Cuong commune), Trang grew up in the mountainous region, early understood what it meant to be deprived, and from there ignited in her the dream of becoming a teacher, bringing letters to sow in remote areas, where children did not yet know the world outside the village.
Graduating from the Faculty of Primary Education, Vinh University, in 2018, Trang was assigned to Con Cuong Town Primary School - a convenient school, close to home, with good teaching and learning conditions. But it seems like there is still a void in her heart. "I want to go to a more difficult place, where students need me more," Trang said. And when the Department of Education launched a campaign to mobilize teachers to rotate in remote areas, she immediately volunteered.
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In October 2020, Trang received a decision to go to Luc Da Primary School (Mon Son commune), working at two separate locations in Xang and Moi villages. In October 2024, she was transferred to Mon Son Primary School 2, teaching at Bung and Co Phat schools - the most remote and harsh places in the border region. On the day she received the assignment, Trang's eldest son was only 4 years old, and her youngest daughter was only 2. Mother away from child, child away from mother, just that much was enough to make the young mother feel heavy-hearted. The road to Co Phat is only about 20 km, but it takes almost half a day. In the dry season, it is dusty, in the rainy season, the road is slippery as grease. Trang said, there were Monday mornings when she returned to school, looking at the steep slope ahead, tears welling up in her eyes. Partly because her child was still young, clinging to her mother and not letting go; partly because of the difficult road ahead. “The younger child clung to his mother and cried, while the older child, who was more understanding, also cried quietly. Many times I wondered, am I too selfish to leave my child at home and go to be with someone else’s child?”
The Co Phat primary school where Trang is working has only 57 students, the homeroom teacher has 12 students in the 4th grade. Many of the students live 3 km from the school, the road is steep and steep. Early in the morning, the students are barefoot, wearing thin shirts, holding rice packages wrapped in banana leaves to class with eager eyes. Most of the students are children of the Dan Lai ethnic group, living in poor conditions, many of them do not have warm clothes in winter, their meals are only white rice mixed with raw instant noodles. Not only do they lack material things, they also have difficulties with their health and learning ability due to the practice of incestuous marriage that still exists. Therefore, she and her colleagues have to teach, coax and encourage them so that they do not drop out of school. “Each student has a different situation, but they are all lovely and eager to learn. Every time I come home, I bring up all kinds of things, sometimes candy, cakes, chips, sometimes fish packages, pieces of meat... Seeing them eat deliciously, I feel so sorry for them” – Trang confided.
Because the children's homes were too far away, Ms. Trang and her colleagues, along with their parents, built a small hut near the school for the students to stay during the cold and rainy days. In the evening, when the night fell, Ms. Trang would come over to tutor, chat, and teach the children how to keep clean, how to dream, and how to strive. She shared: "I want the children to understand that studying is the only way to escape poverty, so that they don't stay stuck in the village forever. Many parents are not really interested in studying, and still let their children stay home to help with the farming. After each summer vacation or after Tet, we go back to the village, to each house to mobilize. Sometimes, just seeing the hesitant eyes of the students at the door gives me more strength to persevere."
Not only teaching, Ms. Trang is also a person who connects love. Seeing her students in need, she contacted donors, friends, and charity organizations to ask for warm clothes, boots, blankets, bicycles, and books. These small gifts have warmed the cold winters in the highlands. She only hopes that the road to the remote school will be rebuilt so that it can be more easily accessed, making the path of spreading knowledge for teachers in the highlands less arduous.
Talking about Trang, her colleagues call her “a small flame in the border area” – because in the harshest places, she always brings warmth, faith and smiles. To her students, she is a second mother. To her colleagues, she is a friend who is always ready to share. “My path is not just a dirt road leading to Co Phat, Bung village, but a path to the hearts of my students” – Trang said. And that’s right, despite the steep mountains and many obstacles, on that path, the footsteps of the person who sowed the word, the person who lit the fire of faith named Trinh Thi Thu Trang still shine.
The characters mentioned in the article are small pieces in the general picture of a generation of young, courageous teachers who do not back down in the face of difficulties, but always find ways to turn difficulties into motivation. They not only teach knowledge, but also teach students to dream, to believe in the ability to change their fate. In the harsh border areas of Nghe An in particular and in Vietnam in general, there are still many young teachers like Ms. Niem, Ms. Nghia, Ms. Trang... who are silently dedicating day and night, using their youth as "lighthouses" for children in the highlands. Their perseverance, love for the profession and spirit of innovation have been and are a solid launching pad for the young buds of the country, wherever they are, to have enough provisions and aspirations to reach out to the wide world.
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