A commune official with 10 years of experience opened a free class

(Baonghean.vn) - For nearly 10 years, there has been a special class opened free of charge for all poor students throughout the mountainous area of ​​Tan Long, Tan Ky district (Nghe An).

The owner of this class is quite special, because he is a financial officer of the commune, has not studied pedagogy, and has never stood on the podium. He is Nguyen Viet Hoc, born in 1963.

Fate with words

With love and responsibility for poor students, teacher Nguyen Viet Hoc opened a free class and directly taught them. Photo: Nhu Suong

Going back along the historic 15A road to Tan Ky land on an early summer day, we visited the special class of a non-professional teacher named Nguyen Viet Hoc when it was just getting dark. From the alley, the lecture sounded so emotional and warm, creating a familiar and close feeling.

The first impression when entering the classroom is the image of the "reluctant" teacher with a tall figure in a soldier's uniform with intact folds, tanned skin and gentle eyes behind old glasses. His hair is now streaked with silver, revealing a high, bright forehead. His strong voice, each word clear, makes anyone sitting and listening to the lecture feel like they are being drawn into a special world of knowledge.

It is called a classroom but it is actually the utilization of space in two old houses that Mr. Nguyen Viet Hoc's family arranged to be a place to teach. Within about 30 m²There were about a dozen tables and chairs arranged neatly and extremely clean. A writing board was attached to the gable wall. A pair of bright neon lights clearly illuminated each chalk line on the old board. Nearly thirty students in the class were attentively following what the old teacher was meticulously drawing on the board. The first lesson of this summer was about the Math questions from the recent junior high school exam.

Mr. Hoc guides students in solving math problems. Photo: Nhu Suong

Quickly pouring a cup of tea for the guests during the break, Mr. Nguyen Viet Hoc briefly told me about his life so that the strange guest, me, could understand better. His hometown was in Vinh Linh district (Quang Tri). When he was 3 years old, his father unfortunately passed away. In 1969, because of the war, his mother and children were evacuated to Tan Ky district (Nghe An) and settled there. When he was 18 years old, he wrote an application to join the army, worked for 3 years, then was discharged and returned to continue pursuing his studies. The Commercial College was where Mr. Hoc entrusted his dream. After graduating, Mr. Hoc applied to work locally and became a financial officer of the People's Committee of Tan Long commune and Nghia Thai commune, Tan Ky district.

Working with books and numbers kept him busy, but after talking to children in the area many times, he realized that there were too many gaps in their knowledge, along with a high rate of students failing high school exams in the area. Therefore, he became more concerned and thought that it was necessary to create a space for both learning knowledge and training the children's personalities.

In early 2008, he started to realize his intention by going to each family with children studying in secondary school in the village to present his idea, then went to the school to propose his wishes to the teachers of the children with poor academic performance. At first, many parents were surprised, thinking that he was joking because someone who had never stood on the podium before, and had no teaching skills, how could he teach the children. But after many explanations and ignoring the gossip, the class was still opened with 6 children studying in grade 9.

Opening the class seemed to fulfill his original wish. But his work therefore doubled, during the day, he went to the commune People's Committee office to work, and at night he studied with his students. The initial success of this "reluctant" teacher was recognized by the fact that all 6 students in the class passed the high school entrance exam.

Sharing about his initial ideas, Mr. Hoc said: "Becoming a math teacher has been my wish since I was a child. But due to difficult family circumstances, that dream had to be put on hold. Currently, although I have not undergone professional training like teachers at school, with the knowledge available from my school days, combined with studying textbooks and updating new knowledge on the internet about the subjects of Literature - Math - Physics - Chemistry..., I believe that the knowledge I teach to the students is still guaranteed to be accurate and they can still absorb it...". And perhaps Mr. Hoc does not need to say these things, the reality of the past 10 years is the clearest proof.

After nearly 10 years of teaching, up to now, thousands of students have been tutored and supplemented by Mr. Hoc. The percentage of students in the commune passing the high school entrance exam has increased, including those who were tutored by Mr. Hoc and passed the entrance exam to specialized schools. Many students with poor academic performance have risen up and improved their academic performance.

"You are like a father to us..."

Teacher Nguyen Viet Hoc and his students. Photo: Nhu Suong

According to Mr. Hoc, to become a useful citizen for society, each student needs not only talent and intelligence but also morality and personality. Therefore, in this special class, Mr. Hoc not only teaches knowledge from books but also tries to train morality for each student.

Possessing the qualities of Uncle Ho's soldiers, Mr. Hoc always wants his students to have a good moral foundation, understanding of etiquette and rules in communication and behavior. Especially, they must live with humanity, know how to share and care for people around them. And that is the reason why Mr. Hoc launched a charity fundraising movement, participating in community activities.

Sharing about this, Mr. Hoc said: “With the spirit of giving and receiving, over the past 3 years, I have worked with my students to build the Happiness charity fund to share with friends in difficult circumstances in the area with a total amount of money collected since its launch to date of 17 million VND. To maintain the fund, every week, the whole class organizes to collect scrap metal or reduce part of the breakfast money so that each month we can contribute an amount of 500 thousand VND.

Mr. Hoc also founded a volunteer group called Happiness, where in their free time, both teachers and students collect scrap metal to raise funds to support poor and disadvantaged students. Photo: Nhu Suong

Particularly in special events such as the historic flood in 2014 in Tuyen Hoa district (Quang Binh), within a short period of time, both teachers and students mobilized and collected 3 million VND to support students of Ngu Hoa Secondary School.

Seemingly not satisfied with what he has done, Mr. Hoc himself is also an example of community activities. Not only does he not collect tuition fees from students who come to his class, many students with difficult circumstances are also fed and housed by him. Recently, he also received tuition support for 3 students with difficult circumstances who are currently studying at Le Loi High School (Tan Ky district), with a support period of 3 years.

And if in the past, the subjects that the teacher tutored were mainly students with difficult circumstances and poor academic performance, now, many families with children who are "difficult to teach", addicted to games,... also trust the teacher.

Nguyen Thanh Dung (15 years old), a former bad student and a notorious game addict at Tan Long Secondary School, shared his feelings after being tutored by Mr. Hoc: “Because my parents are traders, they have almost no time to care about their children's studies. Recently, my parents' divorce made me even more depressed and I followed the invitation of my friends. For more than a year now, I have been addicted to games and created 2 accounts at the same time to play. Many times I skipped school to go out and my mother had to go out to find me, so later, when she heard that Mr. Hoc was tutoring students with poor academic performance, my mother took me to his house to be cared for. When I came here, I received Mr. Hoc's care and dedicated guidance, so now I have quit playing games and can keep up with my classmates. If I hadn't met him, I don't know what would have happened to me now?"

And as an encouragement to boost the class's learning spirit, every year, teacher Nguyen Viet Hoc also gives money from his own pocket to reward students with good academic performance or those with difficult circumstances.

Admiring Mr. Hoc's work, many parents expressed their desire to share the burden, but he refused. "My only concern is that the class is getting more and more crowded, but the facilities and classrooms are too small, and there is not enough time to serve the children. As for the economic issue, up to now, with my salary, I still have enough to take care of the children."

Sharing about her husband's work, Ms. Doan Thi Thuy confided: "Although Mr. Hoc's work is charitable and not profitable, his wife and children always support and stand by him. Because only by giving can we expect to receive, society will be better if there are more people who have the same thoughts and actions as Mr. Hoc..."

Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh - Vice Chairman of Tan Long Commune People's Committee said that Mr. Nguyen Viet Hoc's opening of free classes for children in the commune has received much attention and support from local authorities. Although he has devoted a lot of effort to tutoring, whether in the position of Chairman of Tan Long Commune's Education Promotion Association or as a financial officer of Nghia Thai Commune, Mr. Hoc has always completed his assigned tasks well.

Like Dew