9X female teachers go to the fields to find students
(Baonghean.vn) – They are young people who travel hundreds of kilometers of forest roads to the most difficult villages in the highlands of Nghe An to teach.
Life in the "3 no" place
From Hoa Binh town, it takes about 50 km of mountainous road to reach Minh Thanh and Cham Puong villages belonging to Xa Luong Primary School (Tuong Duong). The flood has caused many more landslides on that route. If it rains heavily, no one will dare to go there because of the mud and slippery conditions.
Minh Thanh school has 4 classes with 36 students but only 4 female teachers in charge. They are all very young, the oldest born in 1990, the youngest born in 1995. Life in this "three no" village (no road, no electricity, no phone signal) is difficult in every way.
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| Minh Thanh village teachers pick up students across the stream to school. Photo: Dao Tho |
Every day, the teachers here have to wake up early in the morning to go to the stream to pick up their students. The Mat stream separates the 34 students on the other side, making it impossible for them to get to school every time the water rises.
On normal days, the young students have to be carried across the stream by the teachers to get to school. Ms. Vi Thi Thuy Mo, a contract teacher here, said that for the safety of the children, the teachers have to be on duty every day to pick them up and take them to class safely.
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| Teachers guide students to study at night. Photo: Dao Tho |
The simple meal consisted of only wild vegetables and a little salted fish that the girls had stored since the beginning of the week, but it was delicious, because according to them, the lives of the households here were much more miserable.
After a quick dinner, the teachers prepared to light the lamps and go to the stream to welcome the students to class. In the classroom, each teacher was in charge of a class, giving detailed instructions on everything from spelling to writing and calculating.
Despite the acrid smell of burning oil from the kerosene lamps, people are still diligently working on their notebooks. Teacher Kha Thi Thu, born in 1990, traveled 50 km from Tam Thai commune to set up camp here and confided: “At night, there is no electricity, so we buy candles, and when the candles run out, we ask parents to contribute oil so that the children can go to school. If the children stay at home, their parents cannot teach them... from there, the quality of their learning is improved.”
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| Every night, teachers in remote areas work diligently by oil lamps. Photo: Dao Tho |
After the school bell rang, the girls gathered in a small room. Four people sat together to do paperwork under the oil lamp. Ms. Tran Thi Quynh Trang, a fresh graduate who was assigned here, said that when she first received the task of crossing the forest to get to school alone, she was shaking. There was no electricity, the phone signal was intermittent, the four girls were crowded together in a small room...
Into the forest to find students
At Cham Puong school, life is better but it is the most remote school. Electricity is still a distant dream for the people and teachers here. This school has the largest number of students in Xa Luong commune with 98 children, but the classrooms are still makeshift. The school has to use a teacher's room to teach the children.
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| Xa Luong Primary School in Cham Puong village. Photo: Dao Tho |
By the oil lamp, young teacher Vi Thi Mien, born in 1991, said that she graduated a long time ago but is still under contract with the school. Sticking to the profession and doing the task of spreading knowledge, the teachers often have to go looking for students.
Especially during the rice harvest season, students follow their parents to the fields for weeks. At times like these, she has to go through the forest and across streams to find them and bring them back to school.
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| They are also the ones who beat the school drum. Photo: Dao Tho |
According to teacher Mien, just yesterday after finishing her lesson, she hurriedly brought some rice wrapped in banana leaves into the forest to mobilize the students. Lu Thi Nhu has been absent from school for 4 days now, which makes her very worried because if she does not go to school, Nhu will not be able to keep up with her friends.
She had intended to leave only at noon so that she could come back in time to take care of her work in the afternoon, but the longer the mountain road went, the more tired she felt. After more than 2 hours of trekking through forests and streams, Ms. Mien was drenched in sweat before she reached the small hut where the students' families were harvesting rice.
After a while of persuading, Nhu’s parents agreed to let the teacher take their child back to school. It was more than 2 hours before the teacher and student returned to the village just as it was getting dark. “When I got back to school, I just wanted to lie down and didn’t want to eat anymore, but thinking about taking the students back to school made me happy,” Ms. Mien said with a smile.
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| Teacher Vi Thi Mien goes to the fields to take students back to school. Photo: Dao Tho |
Ms. Dinh Thi Hoa - Vice Principal of Xa Luong Primary School also shared: "Not only teachers in remote areas, but many teachers at the school's main points also regularly go into the forest to encourage students to return to class. Sometimes they have to go all day to bring the students back to school to continue their studies..."
There are many other difficult situations like that, but with love for the profession and children, teachers in the Western Nghe An region still work hard day and night with students and letters. Overcoming all, they always nurture happiness when standing on the podium.
» The makeshift life of a teacher who has been 'living in the countryside' for 15 years
Dao Tho
