Light up the spirit of learning

(Baonghean) - Promoting the tradition of studiousness in Nghe An, many families, clans and localities, despite different conditions and circumstances, are all devoted to learning, have practically supported and promptly encouraged their children to strive to study and practice; in response to that concern, generations of Nghe An students with excellent achievements in national, international, university, college competitions... have contributed to making the land of learning famous.

Giving gifts to students of Tri Le Secondary School (Que Phong) at the beginning of the new school year. Photo:Tran Hai

From a studious family…

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham (Phong Yen hamlet - Nghi Phong - Nghi Loc) lost her husband 10 years ago, and she raised her 3 children to go to university alone. She worked hard with 5 sao of contracted rice fields, then harvested, planted rice for hire, washed dishes for restaurants, and even sold bread on the street... as long as she had money to pay for her children's education. Seeing their mother's hardship, many times her two sons asked her to quit school to go to work to help her, but she firmly refused because she thought about her children's future, only by studying and having stable jobs could her children escape poverty. And the greatest consolation for Ms. Tham is that her children are very obedient, self-motivated learners, the older one shows and teaches the younger one, and so the three brothers have grown up and today she has the right to be proud of her "achievements": The eldest son is a teacher at the Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical College, currently defending his master's thesis in Hanoi, the second son has just been selected to be an ocean-going sailor, the youngest daughter is in her first year at Vinh University.

The family of Nguyen Cong Sang and Tran Thi Ngai in hamlet 3, Hung Dao (Hung Nguyen) is also a typical studious family for many years in the district. In their damp house, there is nothing valuable, but it seems to light up with the certificates of merit of their two children and the certificates of merit from various levels for studious families. Ms. Ngai pointed to the bags of rice stacked in the corner of the house, speaking in a boastful but also worried voice: "The whole family has 6 sao of contracted rice fields, this year the harvest was good but all of that land has been sold to get money for the youngest son to go to university!"... Ms. Ngai's husband is blind from birth, so she takes care of almost all the housework. In addition to farming, she also raises cows, chickens, geese, ducks... selling enough to occasionally send her children a dozen eggs, or when it is time to pay their children's tuition. Her two children, the eldest daughter Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy, is currently working at the Information Portal of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the second son Nguyen Cong Truyen - a former student of Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, is currently in his third year at the University of Technology.

The families of Ms. Tham and Ms. Ngai are just typical studious families among thousands of studious families in the whole province. Together with other studious families, these studious families are contributing to building a learning society today…

…to the family of scholars

In recent years, the movement to encourage learning and talent in clans has developed widely and created an important driving force to promote the spirit of learning in each locality in the whole province. Learning and encouraging children to study successfully have been included in the "agenda" of clan meetings by many clans. The clan has always paid attention to the good example of children in studying by propaganda, mobilizing to establish a golden board and doing a good job of establishing a fund to encourage learning and talent, organizing awards at the end of the school year, university and college entrance exams.

As one of the typical cultural and educational families of Nghi Loc district, the Hoang family in Nghi Phong (where the ancestor Hoang Dinh Cong - an official of the Later Le Dynasty - is worshiped) always considers the love of learning and solidarity as a precious tradition that needs to be preserved. Since 2011, the Hoang family has established a scholarship fund to encourage and motivate their descendants. Mr. Hoang Trung Voi - a member of the family's Scholarship Committee, also the Secretary of Phong Yen hamlet Party Cell, said: "In the scholarship and talent promotion work, the family clearly stipulates: When children reach school age, 100% of them must go to school, choosing the 15th day of the first lunar month and the 15th day of the seventh lunar month every year as the day to reward children in the family who study well and achieve success". Since its establishment, the Scholarship Committee of the Hoang family has actively promoted and mobilized families to pay attention to their children's education. At the same time, the Education Promotion Board also creates conditions to help families in difficult circumstances, encouraging them to maintain their children's education, not letting their children drop out of school. Thanks to that, the education of the children of the Hoang family in Nghi Phong is increasingly developing, currently the family has 138 people with university and post-university degrees, 6 doctors...

As for the Phan Dinh clan in Hung Dao (Hung Nguyen), now more than 50% of the descendants in the clan are teachers. Mr. Phan Xuan Thuy (84 years old) - a member of the Phan Dinh Clan Council, Hung Dao commune, said: The teaching profession seems to be deeply ingrained in the thinking and working style of the Phan clan's descendants. With the simple and rustic thought, "giving a child a gold bar is not as good as giving a child a knowledge", those teachings are always reminded by the elders in the clan during family meetings, ancestor worship at the beginning of the year or when giving rewards to the children on the occasion of the 15th day of the 8th lunar month...

The school and Parents' Association gave a bicycle to Nguyen Huu Cong (class 9B, Nghia Dong Secondary School, Tan Ky) for his achievements in overcoming difficulties and studying well.

And bring glory to the land of learning

Along with studious families and studious students, in recent years, the activities of encouraging learning, encouraging talents, and building a learning society in our province have actively contributed to the Education and Training sector in implementing the Education and Training Development Plan; improving the quality of comprehensive education, paying due attention to investing in the quality of excellent students (maintaining the quality of national and international excellent students); the number of students passing university and college entrance exams has increased rapidly, thereby creating an increasingly high position for the Education and Training sector of Nghe An in the education and training system of the whole country.

Mr. Tran Xuan Bi - Chairman of the Provincial Association for Promotion of Education, said: In recent times, the Association for Promotion of Education at all levels in Nghe An has actively mobilized cadres, members, people, and philanthropists inside and outside the province to support activities to promote education and encourage talents in schools. By the end of the second quarter of 2014, the whole province had mobilized over 40 billion VND in the education promotion fund; awarded prizes to excellent international and national students; awarded scholarships to 57,122 poor students with a total amount of 14.9 billion VND; rewarded 144,932 talented students in various fields with a total amount of 17.636 billion VND. Up to now, the whole province has 370 thousand/465 thousand studious families, reaching 79%; 3,261/3,665 clans have achieved the title of Studious Clan, reaching 89%; 3,568/3,965 blocks and hamlets achieved the title of Learning Encouragement Hamlet, reaching 90%; 340/405 communes, wards and towns achieved the title of Learning Encouragement Commune, reaching 84%; 15/20 district associations achieved the title of Learning Encouragement District, reaching 75%...

The study encouragement movement has contributed significantly to the overall results of Nghe An Education sector in the 2013-2014 school year: 107 students achieved national excellent students, ranked 2nd nationwide, 3 students won medals at international and regional Olympic competitions. The rate of students with excellent and fair academic performance at all levels is higher than the previous year... In the 2014 university entrance exam, Nghe An had 131 students passing the university entrance exam with 24 points or more. Of which, more than 20 students were valedictorians and salutatorians of prestigious universities nationwide...

Clear water