Uncle Ho's advice to teachers

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh was very interested in the cause of education and training of people for the new society, for the Vietnamese people. Throughout his life, he devoted much of his mind to the cause of education. Before passing away, he kindly advised: "Training the next generation of revolutionaries is a very important and necessary task."

In his “Letter to Students” dated September 5, 1945, Uncle Ho wrote: “Today, you are more fortunate than your fathers and brothers in that you receive an education from an independent country, an education that will train you to become useful citizens for Vietnam, an education that will fully develop your inherent abilities.”

Uncle Ho is watching a child spell while visiting a kindergarten class on Hang Than Street, Hanoi, in 1958.

Uncle Ho encouraged students to study hard to make the country proud: “After 80 years of slavery that weakened our country, today we need to rebuild the foundation that our ancestors left us, so that we can catch up with other countries in the world. In that construction, our country expects a lot from you. Whether Vietnam becomes beautiful or not, whether the Vietnamese people can step up to the stage of glory to stand shoulder to shoulder with the great powers of the five continents or not, depends largely on your studies.”

Uncle Ho emphasized the mission of teachers: “What is more glorious than the profession of training future generations to actively contribute to building socialism and communism? A good teacher – a teacher worthy of being a teacher – is the most glorious person…, good teachers are unsung heroes… If there are no teachers to educate the people’s children, how can we build socialism? Therefore, the teaching profession is very important, very glorious.”

Teachers and students happily welcomed President Ho Chi Minh to visit the Waterway and Road Transport High School.

To fulfill that glorious mission, a teacher must have good qualities. Uncle Ho reminded: “Teachers must pay attention to both talent and virtue. Talent is culture, expertise, virtue is politics. If you want students to have virtue, teachers must have virtue… Therefore, teachers must be exemplary, especially for children.”

In his Testament, Uncle Ho emphasized the Party's responsibility for caring for and educating the young generation:“The Party needs to take care of educating them in revolutionary ethics, training them to become successors in building socialism who are both “red” and “expert”. Nurturing the next generation of revolutionaries is a very important and necessary task.”

Until the last letter Uncle Ho sent to the education sector, dated October 15, 1968, Uncle Ho again emphasized the requirement of our country's education to strive to keep up with the level and quality of civilized and advanced countries: "On the basis of good political education and ideological leadership, we must strive to improve cultural and professional quality to practically solve the problems raised by our country's revolution and in the near future, reach the peaks of science and technology".

Uncle Ho visited and talked with teachers and students of southern schools in Hai Phong.

In the letter, Uncle Ho reminded teachers, workers, staff, and students of the following three points:

Firstly, teachers and students must always promote the spirit of love for the Fatherland and socialism, strengthen revolutionary sentiments towards workers and peasants, be absolutely loyal to the revolutionary cause, thoroughly trust in the leadership of the Party, be ready to accept any task assigned by the Party and the people, and always strive to be worthy of the heroic Southern compatriots;

Second, no matter how difficult it is, we must continue to compete in teaching well and learning well. On the basis of good political education and ideological leadership, we must strive to improve the quality of culture and expertise in order to practically solve the problems raised by our country's revolution and, in the near future, reach the peaks of science and technology;

Third, you, uncles, aunts, and children, must work together to organize and manage the material and spiritual life in schools better and better, and to strengthen the guarantee of health and safety. Emphasizing the mission of teachers, in the letter Uncle wrote: "The mission of teachers is very important and very glorious."

Uncle Ho visited and talked with teachers and students of Hanoi Pedagogical University, October 21, 1964

At the end of the letter, Uncle Ho requested the country's education: "Education is the cause of the masses. It is necessary to fully promote socialist democracy, build good relationships, and closely unite teachers, teachers and students, students with each other, officials at all levels, schools and people to successfully complete that task."

In the campaign “Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh”, on November 20, Vietnamese Teachers’ Day is an occasion to remind teachers to always think about their dignity in the career of educating people. Because in the journey of life of each person, regardless of position, age, the image of a teacher is still sparkling and full of noble humanity. The character of a teacher according to Uncle Ho’s morality is to light up the belief to do well the career of educating people.

According to Ap Bac Newspaper