Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh: 'In the teaching profession, heart must be put first'

PV: Madam, to be awarded the title of Excellent Teacher, one of the criteria that a nominee must have is “Passion and dedication to the profession”. What do you think about this criterion?

Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh:“Passion and dedication to the profession” is not a standard that can be measured, but in my opinion, it is the most necessary standard of an Excellent Teacher. In the teaching profession, the word “heart” must be put first. The heart is the love for children, tolerance, and professional ethics. That is the passion and dedication to the job, working responsibly.Dedicated teachers, dedicated to the profession, they will always try to find ways to overcome existing problems in the most reasonable way to bring true values.

If a teacher is not dedicated and not attached to the profession, will the values ​​they bring to students be truly useful and effective? Without passion and dedication, will they be able to stick with the teaching profession? Therefore, as aExcellent Teacher, first of all must be a dedicated teacher, devoted to the profession.

PV: You worked in a mountainous district during the most difficult time. During that time, did you ever think about moving to the lowlands?

Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh:Although the mountainous district is not my hometown, Tuong Duong is where I was born and raised, so I always consider this land as my second hometown. Having been involved in Tuong Duong education for many years, since the time when the roads were still difficult, the schools were still makeshift, the quality of the staff and the quality of the students were still limited. I always wondered how to improve education in the mountainous region. To do that, I always thought and searched for solutions.

The joy of work, combined with passion, I was caught up in that cycle. I found life more meaningful when I was always busy, always concerned with my career. That is why I never thought about working in another environment.

PV: You once achieved an impressive achievement when you received the title of excellent teacher at the provincial level after only 2 years of teaching. Can you share about this competition and what the award meant to you at that time?

Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh:After graduating, I got a job at a unit 10 km away from home. I cycled to work in the morning and back at noon, on dirt roads with dust and gravel. Sometimes my bike got a flat tire along the way, sometimes it slipped on a rock, and both bike and person tumbled over. Not to mention the cold rainy days and the hot sunny days.

So my motivation at that time was to find a way to be closer to home, because according to the Head of the Department of Education and Training at that time, achieving the provincial-level excellent teacher award would give me priority in arranging a job according to my wishes. That's why I registered to take part in the provincial-level excellent teacher exam in my second year of working.

During the competition, I was quite lucky to pass the theory and practice rounds easily. However, when I received the results, I was quite surprised to be ranked excellent. The results of the provincial excellent teacher competition that time was the motivation for me to continue participating in the next provincial excellent teacher competition cycles.

During 10 years of teaching, I have never missed the provincial teacher competition. There was a time when I was subjective and failed because of a small mistake.

But because of that failure, I set a goal for the next time: To regain the title of excellent teacher at the provincial level that I had won. It was not until the Department of Education and Training assigned me to judge the excellent teacher exam at the provincial level that I stopped participating in the exam.

OUTSTANDING TEACHER Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh

During the process of professional guidance, I often talk to teachers: Participating in excellent teacher competitions is an opportunity to practice one's own capacity. By accumulating experience from oneself, learning from colleagues, by being bold and confident when encountering professional aspects. Through each competition, teachers will grow up a lot.

PV: One of the current difficulties in education in the highlands is the situation of teachers asking to work in the lowlands, including many good teachers. From a personal and management perspective, how do you view this issue?

Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh:Over the years, the number of teachers transferring to work in the lowlands has been quite high, and the majority of the transferred teachers are teachers who have achieved provincial-level excellent teachers, and are key teachers in the industry. From a personal perspective, I also realize that choosing a favorable working environment, creating conditions for myself to develop more, and letting my children study in a place with better conditions is what everyone wants.

However, from the perspective of managers, we feel quite sad. The land of Tuong Duong has trained and helped them grow. We hope they will be effective arms in the process of improving the quality of education in disadvantaged areas. But Tuong Duong education is not strong enough to keep teachers here.

To limit the above situation, my wish is to have a satisfactory treatment for teachers in the highlands. How to make teachers in the highlands have a working environment that ensures facilities, how to make the social community have a thorough interest in education, so that teachers in the highlands can be in the right role as teachers, not having to take on many tasks like a worker.

PV: On social networks, you have shared many trips and practical and meaningful activities that teachers in the highlands have done for their students. Is it true that “necessity is the mother of invention” and what is the motivation for you to overcome difficulties?

Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh:As I said before, the educational conditions in the mountainous district of Tuong Duong in particular, and the disadvantaged districts in general, are still full of hardships. Teachers are not only tasked with holding chalk to the board, but they also have to worry about many things: First of all, they have to worry about motivating students to come to class; worry about calling, worry about finding funds to build facilities for students to eat, stay, study, worry about every meal, sleep for students... with so many worries, requiring teachers to be dedicated, responsible, and try to adapt to the requirements.

I would like to tell the story of building school libraries in schools. 6 years ago when the policy was first introduced, we thought that this was really difficult because at that time, not only parents and students but also many teachers were not aware of the importance of reading culture in schools, or thought that this was not feasible because the price of a book was too expensive compared to the standard of living in the highlands.

However, when it came to implementation, the school and teachers were extremely creative and dedicated, such as building mini libraries, green libraries, bringing libraries to each remote school, each village, and each teacher's home to build a reading environment for students. Teachers also connected with many organizations and volunteer groups to mobilize and donate thousands of books each year.

Now in Tuong Duong every school has a library, the reading movement has spread to every student and even to their parents. In addition to primary and secondary schools, we are continuing to expand to kindergartens to build libraries in schools.

With many practical actions and efforts, Tuong Duong education has had positive changes.

I think that behind those results there is the shadow of teachers. Perhaps, teachers, like myself, in addition to going to work to take care of the family economy, the motivation to stick with and do well the work of teachers is the joy in the work, the meaning of the work they do, and the value of a teacher when they are respected.

Meritorious Teacher VO Thi Tuyet Chinh

PV: Compared to the plains and lowlands, education in the highlands still has many gaps for many different reasons. For you, after more than 30 years of attachment, what is your biggest concern? Besides objective reasons, do you think there are any other reasons?

Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh:Tuong Duong is still a poor district, the economic conditions of the people are still too difficult. The infrastructure system invested in education has not met the requirements. The human resources are getting thinner, because Tuong Duong education is not strong enough to attract talents. Meanwhile, many students have no jobs after graduating. Most people of working age have to go to work far away, a few, after finishing vocational training, also start a business in a foreign land. They see finishing junior high school and high school as not the only way to earn money.

Therefore, many students are not interested in studying, leading to the situation of dropping out of school halfway which has not been completely resolved. Therefore, my biggest concern is the sustainable development of education in Tuong Duong.

How to have enough resources to meet the requirements for teaching and learning, how to attract and retain teachers, how to motivate students to study. Only then, can education in Tuong Duong in particular and education in the highlands in general have sustainable development.

PV: What does the title of Excellent Teacher mean to you? What do you personally think about being worthy of this honor?

Meritorious Teacher Vo Thi Tuyet Chinh:The title of Excellent Teacher is not only a noble title for me but also an honor from the Party, the State and the whole society for the teaching profession. This is a great motivation for me to continue to contribute. However, I will not be complacent, but always remind myself to be more and more responsible to continue to contribute to the education sector, to my homeland and country./.