In mid-August, teacher Nguyen Trong Toan took his wife - teacher Nguyen Thi Hai and son on an old motorbike on the familiar route from Hanh Lam commune (Thanh Chuong) to Doc May commune (Ky Son). They have been on this journey for nearly 20 years, except for the Ho Chi Minh route and National Highway 7 which have changed a lot; otherwise, the road from Muong Xen to Huoi Tu and especially the nearly 50 km long road to Doc May still seems to be as difficult as ever, rugged, steep, muddy in the rain and dusty in the sun. Going, his heart is full of emotions. If in previous years, it was the feeling of pity for his father, pity for his eldest daughter who had to stay at his sister's house. Now, it is the worry when his wife and children are living alone in a remote place, not knowing when they will be able to return home to visit their family. Going up with his wife and children for a day, teacher Toan took the opportunity to clean up the rented room and then hurried back to make it in time for the first day of school...
20 years ago, teacher Nguyen Thi Hai and teacher Nguyen Trong Toan went to Ky Son district to teach and were assigned to Doc May Primary School and Kindergarten - one of the most remote and difficult schools in Ky Son district. After getting married and having children, due to the harsh weather conditions in the highlands, the couple only lived with their first daughter for 2 years. After that, she was sent back to her hometown to be taken care of by her younger sister. Life away from their children was difficult, so when their first child was 11 years old, the family decided to have a second child. This time, out of love for their child and not wanting her to be away from her mother, the couple rented a small room near the school to live with her.
Life up to now is still temporary. Because her father-in-law is old and her daughter is grown up, after 3 years of expressing her wishes, at the end of November last year, Mr. Toan was transferred to the lowlands. His wife and son still have to stay in Doc May. Unfortunately, although he has moved to his hometown Thanh Chuong to teach, Mr. Toan was assigned to teach at Thanh Xuan Primary School, 40 km from his home. Therefore, he has to stay at the school and visit his daughter on the weekends. So, the family of 4 has to be divided into 3 kitchens, life and travel are extremely difficult. Since her husband returned to the lowlands, teacher Nguyen Thi Hai has had even more difficulties due to the lack of support. She misses her daughter, misses her husband, but because her second child is still young, the road is far away, the forest is wild, the water is poisonous, so she only has the opportunity to return to her hometown during Tet and Summer...
In another situation on the other side of Highway 48, in order to complete her work, for more than 3 years now, teacher Nguyen Thi Hai (Quang Phong 1 Primary School - Que Phong District) has also had to accept going back and forth 60 km of forest road from the school to Que Phong town every day. Her situation is quite unique, because her husband works in the North, she alone goes to the highlands to live in a village. After giving birth, because she did not want to be away from her child, she had to stay at her uncle's house outside the town, while she went to a remote area to teach.
The scene of a mother and a child living far away from her husband and family makes Ms. Hai "unfathomable". Now, she has just given birth to her second child, the child is still young and there is no one to take care of him, so the new school year has begun but she still cannot imagine what life will be like for the three of them: I just hope that life will soon be stable, and that there will be a place to "settle down and make a living", because carrying each other like this is not only tiring for me but also unfair to my child - teacher Hai sadly shared.
Almost all schools in the mountainous districts of Nghe An such as Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop… each school has a row of public housing for teachers from the lowlands to teach in the highlands. However, in those narrow and simple rooms, almost every room is “defective” because some have wives living far away from their husbands, others have husbands living far away from their wives. There are also rooms where, because the husband and wife are both living in different places, they have to accept living far apart, leaving their children with their grandparents in the lowlands.
Going to schools in Western Nghe An, it is not uncommon to see teachers bringing their children to live with their parents. Living in exile, the biggest dream of teachers is simply to have a meal with the whole family, to take their children to school like any other normal father or mother... Many also have the desire to go back to the lowlands for the sole reason of being close to their children and their hometown family.
In the room storing the personnel records of the Department of Education and Training of Ky Son district, there is a file nearly 2 spans thick. In it are all the applications from teachers across the district sent to the Department of Education with the sole purpose of "requesting to transfer to another district". Having managed this file for many years, teacher Thai Dinh Bay - a specialist of the Department of Education said that "I know and remember most of the names of the teachers in this file. There are many people who write every year even though they know that returning to the lowlands is not easy"...
Looking through the files, we found that each person had a different situation. The only thing they had in common was that they were all “concerned” about their families. Teacher Nguyen Thi Xoan (born in 1976) has worked in Ky Son district for 23 years and since 2005 she has been awarded the title of Excellent Teacher of the province, and has been a grassroots Emulation Fighter for many consecutive years. Although she is attached to the mountainous district and is loved by colleagues, parents, and students, Ms. Xoan still wishes to return to Anh Son district because “both husband and wife work in Ky Son, their son is being sent to his grandparents for education and they are now old and weak and cannot guarantee their health to support him”.
Teacher Phan Thi Thuong (Huoi Tu Kindergarten - Ky Son) also expressed her wish to return to teach in Quy Hop district near her home because "her husband works far away, and there is no one to take care of her elderly parents". The distance from school to home is now too far, more than 300 km, so the time she has to spend with her family each time she returns home is very little. Worrying about her family affects the quality of her work. The situation of teacher Dang Thi Nga (Na Ngoi 1 Primary School - Ky Son) is more difficult, because "her husband works far away, and has no time to care for her children". She herself also teaches far away from home, so "one child has to be sent to the paternal grandparents, the other to the maternal grandparents" in Con Cuong district.
It seems to have become a tradition that in every meeting with provincial leaders, leaders of Ky Son district also expressed concerns about the situation of teachers seeking to transfer to the lowlands. Like last year, out of more than 200 applications wishing to transfer, nearly 91 teachers were able to transfer. In 2022, before the new school year, 6 teachers also requested to transfer. If we do a statistic, in the past 5 years, the number of teachers in the district requesting to transfer has reached hundreds of people and unfortunately, about 65 - 70% of them are excellent teachers at the district and provincial levels.
Talking about the current situation, Ms. Vy Thi Quyen - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ky Son district once said that "Ky Son" seemed to have "no" good teachers. There was even a year when Ky Son primary school only had 2 English teachers. One of the two teachers was an excellent teacher from the province and had asked to be transferred to the lowlands. However, due to the lack of teachers, the district had to "suspend" this case, temporarily not allowing the transfer (!).
The same situation is also happening in many other mountainous districts in Nghe An and has become more and more common in recent years. The main reason is that, when the Education sector implements the new General Education Program, the demand for English teachers and IT teachers is very high (when these two subjects become compulsory). "Supply" does not meet "demand", many lowland districts do not have enough recruitment documents, have excess quotas, so opportunities are opening up for teachers who live in remote areas and have many years of experience. Then, to recruit teachers, many localities have also set criteria for achieving provincial excellent teachers. Therefore, after a period of training, sending teachers to compete and achieving the title, highland districts sadly watch teachers go to the lowlands without knowing how to retain them...