General Secretary and President sends handwritten New Year greetings to former teacher

The letter with simple, rustic words written on January 25, 2019 (December 20) by General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong was received by teacher Phuc with joy, emotion and pride for her former student.

In the letter, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong sent his regards to his former teacher and her family. He wished the teachers good health, longevity, peace, success in all their endeavours, and many new joys in the new year.

In the postscript, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong respectfully wrote: "I still keep the profound, never-fading memories of the years I was taught by you."

Teacher Dang Thi Phuc (now 86 years old) was a primary school teacher for General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong. After completing her education, Ms. Phuc went to Mai Lam commune, Tu Son, Bac Ninh (now Dong Anh, Hanoi) to teach.

The image of the letter General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong sent to teacher Dang Thi Phuc to congratulate her on the New Year was respectfully and emotionally shared by her family.

The 4th grade class she taught was too small for Mai Lam commune, so she had to combine with Dong Hoi commune to have enough students for one class. Mai Lam was 33, Dong Hoi had 15 students of different ages, all gathered at Mai Hien village communal house to study. The oldest student in the class was named Duy, the class monitor and the same age as the teacher. The youngest student in Dong Hoi commune at that time was now General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

Among the group of hard-working students of all ages, student Trong left the deepest impression on her because he was the youngest but the best student in the class, very intelligent, enthusiastically raised his hand to speak, and had round and beautiful handwriting.

In teacher Phuc's memory, Trong had to go to school from his home in Dong Tru village, through Le Xa village, across a field to get to class. During his time in 4th grade, he only wore a brown ao ba ba, and went barefoot regardless of winter or summer. But with his intelligence, effort, and diligence, Trong excelled at the end of the year, ranking first, representing all-round excellent students to report to the whole school.

Trong went to Nguyen Gia Thieu Secondary School but still often visited Ms. Phuc with class monitor Duy. After that, she moved away so they lost contact.

After two years of teaching 4th grade, Ms. Phuc went to school and taught secondary school, Math. She was an excellent teacher at the city level for many years. In 2001, after attending a meeting with 4th grade students that year, Ms. Phuc was informed, "Teacher, Phu Trong's students are doing very well now."

Delighted by Trong's maturity, teacher Dang Thi Phuc cherished the thought of writing a poem titled "The Little Student of the Past" (dedicated to NPT). However, it was not until 2005 that she had the opportunity to read this poem at a teachers' poetry festival. She did not expect that it was this poem that helped "The Little Student of the Past" find his teacher again.

A few days later, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong unexpectedly visited his old primary school teacher. When he entered the house, Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong complained, "It's been decades since I last saw you, and you still didn't let me come." Teacher and student looked at each other, speechless with emotion.

General Secretary visited his old teacher's house in 2011

Receiving a simple handwritten letter from General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong wishing for a happy New Year, teacher Dang Thi Phuc's family was deeply moved and appreciated the sincere and simple gratitude in the letter from the head of the country.

Ms. Tran Thi Xuan Phuong, a teacher at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, daughter of Ms. Dang Thi Phuc (86 years old) said: "My mother's health has been very poor, but receiving the love and care of her former students during this Tet holiday has given her more strength and joy in life."

Ms. Hong Mai, the second daughter of Ms. Dang Thi Phuc (86 years old) confided: “In fact, handwritten letters in this era, one person writing to another is rare and hard to find. Here, a leader of the country wrote a letter (and a handwritten letter) to congratulate his former teacher, which made the family extremely touched. My father did a small statistic and found out that, after 20 years, both sides of the family have a total of more than 100 teachers. Teaching is a traditional profession in our family. I used to be a teacher at the Pedagogical College, but our family never thought that one day we would receive a letter from a leader in the position of the head of the country.

Uncle Trong and my family have had a close relationship for a long time. Although we don't have time to meet, he always has beautiful feelings for my mother, my aunts and uncles in my family. Receiving Uncle Trong's letter, our family feels the warmth in every word. It is truly an extremely great happiness during the coming of Tet and Spring.

A handwritten letter, to us, is a sincere and unique sentiment in this day and age. Holding the handwritten letter, I feel nostalgic and my family is truly blessed because my mother has a wonderful student, Uncle Trong.

On behalf of my family, I would like to express my deep gratitude to General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong - a close friend and dear student of my mother. I wish you good health, peace, happiness, and to lead Vietnam to increasingly prosperous development.

Le Thu