Part 1: The teacher in military uniform
Over the years, the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade has opened dozens of literacy classes in the remote villages of Nghe An province. The villagers not only learned to read and write and were provided with ample learning materials, but also received knowledge about agriculture, helping to improve their lives.
My Ha - Tien HungNovember 20, 2024
Over the years, the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade has opened dozens of literacy classes in the remote villages of Nghe An province. The villagers not only learned to read and write and were provided with ample learning materials, but also received knowledge about agriculture, helping to improve their lives.
In mid-November 2024, a literacy and anti-illiteracy class was inaugurated in Lam Son village (Tri Le commune, Que Phong district). The class, organized by the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade, is part of the Government's project "Strengthening the participation of young intellectual volunteers in working at economic-defense zones." The teachers are young intellectual volunteers working at the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade.
Just before the opening ceremony, Ms. Quang Thi Hoa (from Lam Son village, 40 years old) rushed in to register for the course. “Ms. Hoa is the 26th student in this class. Yesterday, only 21 students registered, but by the time the ceremony started, there were already 26. The most difficult thing is still persuading students to attend,” said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nhu Hong, Deputy Political Commissar of the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade.
Like many other women in the area, Ms. Hoa had never been to school due to difficult living conditions. “I don’t know how to read or write, and the letters don’t know me either. Because I’m illiterate, I face countless difficulties. I can only stay within this village,” Ms. Hoa said with a smile. A few days ago, soldiers and local authorities came to her house to encourage her to join a literacy class. Although she really wanted to participate, she hesitated to register because her husband works far away and she hadn’t yet asked for his opinion.
This morning, when my husband came home from work and I asked him about it, he said, "If you like learning to read and write so much, why don't you go?" So I rushed to the class to register. Now that I'm a grandmother, I feel a bit embarrassed to go back to school."
Ms. Quang Thi Hoa, Lam Son village (Tri Le commune, Que Phong district)
Similarly to Ms. Hoa, Ms. Luong Thi Hien (51 years old, Lam Hop village) also started learning to read and write for the first time, even though she already had many grandchildren. "Not knowing how to read and write is very inconvenient. I know how to ride a motorbike, but I can't learn to read and write, so every time I need to travel far, I just walk. My children are married and live far away, but I can't read or write to call or text them," Ms. Hien recounted.
The class has only 26 students, but there are 4 teachers: 2 main teachers and 2 teachers who take turns tutoring and guiding each student. Because many students cannot speak standard Vietnamese, most of the teachers are selected from ethnic minority groups. There are teachers from the Hmong, Thai, and Khmu ethnic groups. One of these teachers is Mr. Ha Van Cang (a Thai man from Kem Don village, Tri Le commune, 26 years old this year).
According to Cáng, after graduating from Vinh University, he went to the South and worked as a teacher at a high school. Cáng's mother was also illiterate before. Last year, the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade opened a literacy class in Kem Đôn village, so his mother joined. After more than a year of perseverance, she can now read and write fluently. “When I received the text message from my mother on my phone, I was so moved that I cried. That's why I quit my job there and applied to join the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade, becoming a young volunteer to teach this literacy class,” Cáng said.
The 4th Economic-Defense Brigade is stationed in eight communes across two districts, Ky Son and Que Phong, with the functions of training, combat readiness; carrying out civilian affairs work, building political foundations in the area; and implementing economic-defense projects… According to Deputy Political Commissar Nguyen Nhu Hong, during the construction of the Ky Son - Que Phong Economic-Defense Zone, through monitoring the area, the Brigade's command realized that a large percentage of the population had not received an education, or had received education but later became illiterate. This is a significant reason leading to incorrect understanding of the Party and State's policies and guidelines, making them vulnerable to exploitation, incitement, and manipulation by malicious individuals; it also prevents them from acquiring new scientific and technical knowledge, resulting in low labor productivity, low crop and livestock productivity, slow development of people's lives, and unsustainable poverty reduction. Based on that situation, every year the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade has coordinated with local Party committees, authorities, and the Education sector to organize literacy classes.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nhu Hong, although it is a literacy class, students also learn a lot of other knowledge. Besides the cultural curriculum, students are also taught about science and technology in farming and animal husbandry; how to care for mothers and children's health; disease prevention, environmental protection, and the protection of public works... These "extracurricular" programs are organized weekly and are led by officers, staff, and young volunteer intellectuals of the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade on a rotating basis.
We flexibly integrated literacy education with knowledge dissemination, thereby fundamentally transforming the awareness and farming and livestock skills of trainees after each lesson, contributing to the efforts of local Party committees and authorities to accelerate poverty eradication, and strengthening people's trust in the Party."
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nhu Hong - Deputy Political Commissar of the 4th Economic-Defense Brigade
Lieutenant Colonel Hong also stated that during the training process, the unit organized cultural and artistic exchange activities reflecting local traditions; organized activities to commemorate International Women's Day (March 8th) and Vietnamese Teachers' Day (November 20th), and held collective birthday celebrations... thereby fostering a spirit of eagerness to learn among the trainees.
Mr. Xong Ba Cha, Vice Chairman of the Tri Le Commune People's Committee, said: "Due to cultural customs and the difficult economic conditions in the past, the number of illiterate people in the area is still very high. This is especially true in villages with a large Mong population. The Mong people believe that daughters belong to another family, and no matter how much investment is made, they will not receive anything in return, because after marriage they will only enrich their husband's family. Therefore, in the past, they did not allow daughters to go to school. As a result, most Mong women aged 40 and above are illiterate. Classes like these are a second chance for them to learn to read and write and acquire basic knowledge."
By 2023, the whole country still had over 189,000 people aged 15-35 who had not met literacy standard level 1 (completing the 3rd grade program) and over 322,000 people who had not met literacy standard level 2 (completing the primary school program). Meanwhile, for those aged 15-60, the rate for level 1 was over 734,000 people and over 1.7 million people for level 2. In Nghe An province, in 2023, the province was recognized as having achieved literacy standard level 2, universal preschool education for 5-year-old children, universal education standard level 3, and universal lower secondary education standard level 1. However, the province still had over 16,000 people aged 50-60 who were illiterate (accounting for 0.7% of the population).
