In the place where lesson plans are prepared using flashlights.

(Baonghean.vn) - On sunny days, the streams dry up; on rainy days, even the mini generators can't operate. The teachers here have to prepare lesson plans using flashlights. When the batteries run out, they have to use oil lamps. After finishing their lessons, they look up at the thick soot covering their noses. Furthermore, their meager salaries have to be "advanced" to buy books and school supplies for the students, without even daring to think about compensation.

Every day we travel 100 km through the forest.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thanh (born in 1989) is an art teacher at Luong Minh Primary School (Tuong Duong district, Nghe An province), where she has worked for 5 years. Previously, the school had two art teachers, but one recently transferred, so Ms. Thanh has to teach art to 38 classes across 9 school locations. Therefore, the subject has to be taught in a staggered manner, finishing teaching at one school location before moving on to another.

The road to school for students in the mountainous district of Tuong Duong.

When we visited, Ms. Phuong Thanh was teaching at the Minh Tien village school. This school mainly serves students from the Thai and Khmu ethnic groups in four villages: Minh Tien, Dua, Minh Thanh, and Cham Puong – the most disadvantaged areas in Luong Minh commune.

Ms. Thanh and her husband live outside Cua Rao, and it's 50km to this school. On a good day, they leave in the morning and return in the evening, totaling 100km of forest trails each day. Many days they arrive home when it's already pitch dark. Looking at the small, thin teacher, it's hard to imagine her traveling alone on horseback through the mountain passes and forests in the twilight.

my classAt Minh Thanh village school, Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong district, Nghe An province)

“Once, on my way home, I lost control of the motorbike and both I rolled down a shallow ravine. The motorbike pinned me down, causing excruciating pain. I managed to pull my leg out, but I couldn't pull the motorbike up, and there was no phone signal. At that moment, I was both scared and heartbroken, all I could do was cry, thinking I would have to spend the whole night in the forest. Luckily, a teacher on his way to the commune spotted me and pulled both the motorbike and me up,” Ms. Thanh recounted that accident.

That accident made Ms. Thanh consider giving up her job, but after her leg healed, she drove nearly 100km round trip to pursue her dream of teaching drawing to students in the highlands. “The children’s general language skills are limited, so teaching subjects with many specialized terms like fine arts is very difficult. There are terms the students don’t understand, and I have to explain them, find appropriate ways to express them, and then there’s a shortage of colors, drawing paper… Sometimes I have to teach without any materials or use my own money to provide them for the students,” Ms. Thanh confided.

Luong Minh Secondary School, Minh Tien branch

Prepare your uniforms by flashlight.

On rainy days, the roads were blocked by landslides, with many sections buried under earth. With a ravine on one side and a landslide on the other, only the experienced local men dared to travel by motorbike; the female teachers couldn't, and had to stay at the school. Sometimes they had to stay for a whole week. The food was meager, needless to say, but the worst part was the lack of electricity and clean water.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Phuong Thanh is preparing her lesson plan under the light of a flashlight.

It was raining, the stream was rushing, and the turbine (mini hydroelectric power plant) couldn't operate. The teachers here had to use flashlights to prepare their lessons. When the flashlight batteries ran out, they used oil lamps. When the batteries ran out, they had no choice but to use oil lamps. After finishing their lessons, they would tilt their heads back, their noses covered in thick soot..The teachers' quarters contained only two single beds per room, the bed slats almost completely broken, and a dilapidated, rotting wooden wardrobe. In the light of flashlights, the teachers used their personal trunks as tables, sitting cross-legged on their beds to prepare their lesson plans.

Advance salary to buy books and stationery for students.

Ms. Cụt Thị Xáo (born in 1994) is the newest teacher at the Xốp Cháo village school (Lượng Minh Primary School) and also the only female teacher there. “I married and moved to Xốp Cháo village, so the school administration has made it possible for me to work near my husband's home,” Xáo confided. While her husband's home is near the school, it's actually considered a remote and isolated area of ​​Lượng Minh commune. Getting there from the commune center requires three stages: by motorbike, by boat, and on foot for over an hour.

Being a woman and a new teacher, Xáo was "prioritized" to teach one class, while the other two teachers had to teach a combined class. Xáo is currently teaching a second-grade class with over a dozen students. Fewer students doesn't mean less work, especially since this is Xáo's first time teaching.

The teacher's bed at the Xop Chao village school.

Most of Xáo's students are Khmu people. "They don't speak Vietnamese fluently, which significantly affects their ability to absorb knowledge. Fortunately, they are very well-behaved and obedient," Xáo said. Because of this, the lesson plan often exceeds the prescribed number of class periods, as teachers have to patiently teach and reteach certain parts until the students fully grasp the material. "Here, we can't just follow the curriculum. Based on the Ministry's curriculum framework, we have to flexibly adjust the time allocation to ensure both sufficient time and that students understand the lesson content," Xáo shared about her work.

Teacher Cụt Thị Xáo said:"No matter how difficult the challenges, we can overcome them; we just hope that the students can continue to go to school."

“Most of the students here are children of the Khmu and Thai ethnic groups, from extremely difficult circumstances, so it's a huge effort for their parents to get them to school. Many of them go to school but don't have enough books and school supplies,” Xao shared about his students.

Like her colleagues, Xáo used her salary to buy books, pens, and paper for the students in town. When asked how she would make up for it, Xáo just smiled, saying that ensuring the children could continue attending school was not just her wish, and she would be very sad if the students had to drop out because of a lack of books and notebooks.

"No matter how difficult the challenges, we always try our best to overcome them, hoping only that our students will have better learning conditions and make more progress," teacher Xao confided. This is not just the sentiment of Ms. Thanh and Ms. Xao, but perhaps of all teachers working in remote and disadvantaged areas…

Vu Thai Quang