People who 'carry letters' up the mountains in Western Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - The image of teachers “carrying letters” up the high mountains has a very sacred beauty. However, in order to have such a poetic “picture”, teachers have gone through many hardships and sufferings. And only teachers who love their profession dare to endure and accept a life of deprivation in every way.
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Young teacher Vi Thi Le with her students. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Wages are not enough to live on.
The 2020-2021 school year is the third year.teacherYoung Vi Thi Le has been attached to her favorite teaching profession since childhood, with the little students she loves dearly in the highlands of the Western region of her hometown Nghe An. Through the story, it is known: "In 2018, Le graduated and applied to be a teacher at Nam Can Primary School (Ky Son).
Le is a teacher on a contract with the school, signed annually. Her monthly salary is 3.5 million VND, but is paid each semester. The school advances half of it for travel and food. By the end of the 2018-2019 school year, Nam Can Primary School had enoughteacherWhile teaching, Le was forced to quit teaching and go to other schools that were short of teachers to ask to "fill the vacancy".
In the 2019-2020 school year, Vi Thi Le was fortunate to be contracted and assigned to teach children by Tam Hop Primary School (Tuong Duong).pupilHmong people at Pha Lom school; this 2020-2021 school year, she was assigned to teach Tay Pong students at Phong village school. In the past 2 years, Le has been closer to her home (Thach Giam town), but on the contrary, her salary has decreased to 3 million VND/month.
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Teachers of Tam Hop Primary School pick wild vegetables with students. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Despite the hardship, Vi Thi Le is currently happy with her teaching job.
There is nothing more joyful than helping children who cannot speak Vietnamese to read and write fluently, improving day by day; being loved and respected by the children and their parents. Difficulties and hardships will certainly pass. The villagers are poor, but every time they have new rice, bamboo shoots, or eggs, they bring them to give to the teachers... how can one not love and respect them?
Must get used to the "4 no" life
Like Vi Thi Le, the boundless love for her job, her school, and her students is the driving force for young teacher Tran Thi Hong Ngan (25 years old) to leave her hometown of Hung Nguyen and go to the highlands. In 2018, teacher Ngan returned to work at Nam Can Kindergarten (Ky Son).
Unlike teacher Le, teacher Ngan is luckier because she enjoys the regime according to Decree No. 06/2018/ND-CP (being classified as a civil servant with salary, insurance, allowances, and salary increases like a tenured teacher). However, the nature of the work is not different.
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Teachers from Nam Can Kindergarten at Huoi Poc school. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Education in Huoi Poc is full of difficulties when parents do not pay much attention to their children's education. Children are often sent to the fields by their parents at a very early age and "forced" to grow up. When children are encouraged to go to school, the family completely "hands over" the children's eating and studying to the teachers.
The only road from the centerNam Can communeThe road to Huoi Poc is about 16 km long, steep, and prone to landslides. On this road, it is impossible to count the number of times teachers have slipped and fallen, resulting in bruises.
“I have been walking this road for more than a year, but it still does not let me get used to it, especially on rainy days. There are days when I come to school with only my eyes not covered in mud. Many times along the way I just want to cry...”.
School pointHoi Poclocated on a high hill. After 15 years of use, the facilities here have deteriorated, are damaged, and are unsafe. The pillars and wooden walls of the classrooms, the dining and living areas of the teachers are all rotten and termite-infested.
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Huoi Poc school is located on a high hill. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Find your own joy
Teacher Lo Thi Thanh Hien (who has taught at Nam Can Kindergarten for 17 years, and also taught at Huoi Poc school with teacher Ngan) shared: “There are many difficulties, but eventually, each teacher here gets used to them, tries to overcome them and finds joy for themselves. The common joy of preschool teachers is to fulfill their assigned tasks well, ensuring the care of children according to the boarding school model in extremely difficult and arduous conditions; from there, step by step helping the children to study at higher levels. My own joy is that every weekend I get to return to my family in Nam Can - where my husband and two sons live together, taking care of each other because my mother is a teacher, although teaching near but far away”.
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To survive at the "4 no" school, Huoi Poc teachers must increase production and be self-sufficient in food. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Tri Le 4 Primary School has 335 students this year. Of which, the main school in Muong Long village has 100 students, Huoi Xai has 103 students, Nam Tot has 43 students and Huoi Moi has 86 students. The whole school has 22 classes, including 3 combined classes with 33 staff and teachers.
This new school year, Mr. Lu Van Phong, after visiting all the remote locations, returned to Huoi Moi. He was assigned to be a 2nd teacher (teaching subjects such as Ethics, Music, Art, and Technology).
"Being able to teach students and contribute to my hometown's highlands makes me very happy...".
After 26 years of teaching in Tri Le, this teacher has mastered the language and understood the customs and practices of the Mong people down to the last detail. The lessons he has, is, and will impart are certainly more valuable than mere numbers.
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Mr. Phong's joy is to welcome students to class every day. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Hopefully, all levels and sectors will pay more attention to education in mountainous areas, to teachers who love their job of carrying letters up the mountain; when philanthropists come to the highlands, in addition to paying attention to the students, they also need to give more encouragement to those respected teachers.