Outstanding young teacher accompanies students in remote area of ​​Quy Chau

Don't want students to drop out of school

Teacher Ha Canh Dinh (born in 1993) is a Thai ethnic and also a son who grew up in the mountainous district of Quy Chau. As a child, despite the difficult learning conditions, with the family tradition, he always aspired to become a teacher. In 2018, after graduating from the Faculty of Music, Nghe An College of Culture and Arts, he chose to return to his hometown to work as a music teacher and take on the role of team leader. This is also a challenge for this young teacher because before that, his previous teaching experience and skills seemed to have started from zero. His luggage is the love for the profession and the love for students that his father - an elementary school teacher - passed down.

Hoan Lam Secondary School is a school in a particularly difficult mountainous area, located in Chau Hoan commune, 40km of forest road from the center of Tan Lac town, Quy Chau district, with 2 branches, each branch is about 10km apart, 100% of the students are ethnic minorities.

When teacher Ha Canh Dinh first started working, many places here did not have electricity and because of the hardships, shortages, and difficult transportation conditions, the situation of students dropping out of school was still happening. Many students, after the summer or Tet holiday, followed their parents to the South to work far away, and some dropped out of school to get married.

“Even now, the risk of dropping out of school still happens,” said Mr. Dinh about the situation at Hoan Lam Secondary School and other schools in mountainous areas.

Last school year, Ngan Thi Ha - a 9A student was a member of the school's Civic Education team. However, despite being a good student and having reached the final year of middle school, Ha decided to drop out of school after the first semester and return home for Tet with her family. Later, after investigating, the school learned that due to difficult circumstances, after Tet, Ha followed her older siblings in the village to work as a factory worker in Bac Ninh.

Feeling sorry for the diligent student, Mr. Dinh and the homeroom teacher went to the house twice to persuade the family and directly called Ha and her sister many times to hope that she would return to school. When Ha returned, the district excellent student exam was only 3 days away and, not letting down her teachers, Ha won third prize at the district level. She passed the 10th grade entrance exam recently and is now a student at the province's Ethnic Minority High School.

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There are many reasons why students do not want to go to school such as difficult circumstances, poor academic performance, and lack of motivation to try.

Therefore, as a teacher, especially a team leader, I have to actively coordinate with other teachers in the school to regularly grasp the students' thoughts and feelings, understand each situation to have measures to mobilize students to go to school.

In addition, teachers must also stay close to the village and students, ready to help and accompany students with difficulties. Our greatest joy is that in the past 5 years, the school has had no dropouts. Moreover, the number of students has not only been maintained but also continuously increased. The villagers also trust the teachers very much, and when they encounter difficulties or obstacles, they come to school to share with the teachers.

Teacher Ha Canh Dinh

Promoting the youth of teachers in mountainous areas

Last November, teacher Ha Canh Dinh was one of 60 outstanding teachers to receive a Certificate of Merit from the Vietnam Youth Union and participate in the program.“Share with teachers”.

Returning from this program, Mr. Dinh confided that he was “so small” compared to his colleagues, teachers working in mountainous districts in the North, remote areas, border areas, islands, teachers teaching in specialized schools or working in reformatory schools of the Ministry of Public Security. “When choosing the job of a teacher, my only greatest wish was to do my professional duties well, build a friendly educational environment, and create excitement for students to happily go to school. I never thought about the difficulties and hardships. After this program, listening to the touching stories of the teachers, I had more motivation to stick with the school and believe in the path I had chosen,” Mr. Dinh added.

In fact, although not working at a school with special subjects, Chau Hoan and Dien Lam communes used to be hot spots for drug trafficking and a high number of addicts in Quy Chau district.

Even at Hoan Lam Secondary School, there are many students whose parents are in prison for drug trafficking. From this reality, as a teacher in charge of the Youth Union, what Mr. Dinh worries about most is how to make students no longer feel inferior when coming to school, build a safe and healthy educational environment for them, and be a support when they encounter difficulties.

To do that, in recent years, Mr. Dinh has coordinated with the Commune Police and mass organizations to propagate and educate ethics and lifestyle for team members through topics on drug prevention for students, prevention of harmful effects of tobacco and electronic cigarettes; legal aid education on school violence and child abuse, and guidance on safe social network usage skills.

Team activities and thematic activities of the school were also implemented in a practical and meaningful way. For example, with the activities “A beautiful story, a good book, a shining example every week”; “Building beautiful friendships, saying no to school violence”… students have gradually been nurtured with humanistic values, about family affection, friendship, and teacher affection.

In addition, the work of educating the team members' ethics is organized by the teacher in many attractive forms such as: Propaganda through bulletin boards, through youth radio programs, through weekly flag-raising activities, and integrated into team activities. From these activities, many examples of good people, good deeds, and beautiful deeds have been aroused in the team members.

After 6 years of working at the school, he has had effective measures and solutions in supporting the nurturing, care, education, and helping students with difficult circumstances in their studies; has had measures and solutions to mobilize many students to go to school and maintain the number of students at both branches and has been commended by the superior management agency and unit.

Since 2019, teacher Ha Canh Dinh has participated in district-level excellent teacher competitions and achieved high results. In 2023, he won the provincial-level Young Pioneer Teacher Award, was awarded the Outstanding Young Teacher Award, and received many certificates of merit for his outstanding achievements in the Young Pioneers' work and children's movements.

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I appreciate the dynamism, enthusiasm and creativity of teacher Ha Canh Dinh. He has brought youthful energy to this highland school and together with the school community has built a friendly and meaningful educational environment so that students feel attached and happy to go to school.

Teacher Pham Duc Hung - Principal of Hoan Lam Secondary School (Quy Chau)