"I wish the students' journey to school would be less arduous."

(Baonghean)The 2012-2013 school year marks the eighth year that teacher Pham Van Tien (born in 1980, from Thanh Chuong district) has dedicated himself to the cause of "nurturing future generations" in the remote Tuong Duong district. Always concerned about improving the quality and effectiveness of teaching, he has developed several innovative teaching methods for Vietnamese language instruction and approaches to literary works specifically tailored for students in mountainous areas. On the occasion of the new school year, a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with this young teacher from the highlands…



- Teacher, could you share your feelings when the school bell rang to signal the start of the new school year?

- For me, starting a new school year means beginning a new journey filled with difficulties, hardships, and a heavy responsibility for both teachers and students. Teaching in this high-altitude mountainous district is also a great challenge. Due to the impact of socio-economic life, the learning ability of students in the highlands is still limited, and ensuring the objectives and requirements of each lesson, as well as the entire curriculum, are met is truly not easy. Aware of these difficulties and challenges, my colleagues and I are determined to complete our tasks to the best of our ability.

So, can you share some memorable experiences?

- Perhaps the most memorable experience was the first day of school when I first set foot in Tuong Duong. That year, I was assigned to Nhon Mai Primary and Secondary School. The day before the opening ceremony, I followed a colleague onto a motorboat in Hoa Binh town, passing through the Cua Rao junction, crossing the Nam Non River with its hundreds of treacherous rapids, and then walking for an hour in the pouring rain. By the time we arrived at school, it was already dark. While still in university, I truly couldn't imagine this scene. At times, I thought about giving up, that I couldn't stay in this remote, isolated place. The next morning, attending the opening ceremony, I saw my colleagues all smiling and excited, the students chattering and laughing, and looking at their new teacher with affectionate and trusting eyes. I decided to stay in this difficult land. That was the motivation that helped me excel in my six years of service in Nhon Mai, a remote and isolated area with an extremely harsh climate.

- Eight years may not be a long time, but I'm sure you've partly realized the "key" to improving the quality of teaching in mountainous areas?

- This is a major, strategic issue, and discussing and analyzing it will inevitably lead to some confusion. Personally, I think that besides transforming the socio-economic life and improving the material and spiritual well-being of the people in the highlands, it's also necessary to change the awareness of parents. Because during the harvest season, many parents force their children to stay home from school to help with the farming. Some children miss school for weeks, significantly impacting their academic performance. When we visited their homes to persuade them, some parents even said: "Learning doesn't produce rice or corn. Now that it's harvest season, we have to go to the fields to bring back rice and corn to have something to eat. After that, we can go to school to learn to read and write."

- As a teacher, if you had one wish at the beginning of the new school year, what would you wish for?

- The roads to the remote highland villages are less rugged and difficult to navigate. The journey to school for both teachers and students is less arduous…

Thank you, teacher!

CONG KIEN (Reporter)