Bó hoa dã quỳ là món quà ý nghĩa nhất dịp 20/11 của thầy Phong

Precariously perched among the high mountains on the Vietnam-China border, about 450km northwest of the center of Hanoi, is the mountainous district of Phong Tho, Lai Chau province. It is this difficult highland that nurtured the dream of a poor student, so that he could study hard, become a teacher, and continue his journey to light up the letters in the remote border area.

That is the story of Mr. Dong Van Phong (born in 1988), a teacher at Tung Qua Lin Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Phong Tho district, Lai Chau province.

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With 16 years of dedication to the career of educating people, for teacher Dong Van Phong, teaching in the highlands is not simply about imparting knowledge but also a journey of sharing love. For many years, this simple teacher has personally cooked lunches to keep his students in school.

Mr. Dong Van Phong, teacher at Tung Qua Lin Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province. (Photo: NVCC)

The dream of “sowing letters” of a teacher in a remote area

Mr. Dong Van Phong was born and raised in a poor farming family in a highland village in Muong So commune, Phong Tho district, Lai Chau province. Here, the journey to find knowledge for children who “have to go hungry one day and worry about having nothing to eat the next” has never been easy.

Talking to reporters of the Vietnam Education Electronic Magazine, teacher Dong Van Phong shared: “Not to mention the time when I was still in school, but even now, most students only study until the end of grade 9, many drop out of school early to go to work. But it is also the difficult life of the villagers that gives me more motivation to try to stick with the profession and love my students more.”

Having overcome difficulties to find knowledge, Mr. Phong deeply understands the importance of education in “changing the face” of his homeland. Those concerns and aspirations have urged the young Thai ethnic man to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher, lighting up new hopes and new beliefs for generations of poor students in remote border areas.

After completing his high school education, in 2006, the young man from Muong So decided to pack his bags and leave Lai Chau for Hanoi to study at Lang Son Pedagogical College (campus 2). At that time, the pride of his family, the trust of the villagers and a backpack full of potatoes and dried foods were the luggage that helped the young man on his journey to pursue his dream.

The geographical distance of nearly 450km and the rugged mountain pass are not the biggest obstacles that the young man has to face when studying in the lowlands. Although he enjoys a tuition exemption policy for ethnic minority students, sometimes Mr. Phong still feels uncertain about his decision, because in addition to tuition fees, there are many other expenses. Meanwhile, his family's circumstances are still difficult, with 6 siblings.

“During my time studying in Hanoi, under the pressure of making ends meet, I often thought about dropping out of school to go to work. But fortunately, thanks to my family's unwavering support and encouragement, I overcame the difficult times and pursued my dream to the end, graduating from high school after 2 years,” the teacher confided.

After graduating in 2008, Mr. Phong applied and passed the civil servant exam, and was assigned to teach at Tung Qua Lin Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province. Returning to his hometown to work was the greatest happiness, the young man's dream of “sowing letters” years ago had come true.

The arduous journey of sowing letters in the highlands

As one of the particularly difficult communes of Lai Chau province, in the first years when Mr. Phong came to teach, Tung Qua Lin had no concrete roads or electricity, so the teaching conditions for teachers here were extremely difficult.

The road to school is a steep, narrow, rocky pass with many dangerous curves; in the rainy season, the mud is slippery and there are frequent landslides, so motorbikes cannot move, you can only walk.

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“At that time, teachers only ate dried fish (about 30,000 VND/kg) or instant noodles, sesame salt, etc. to get through the day. Occasionally on weekends, teachers went to Dao San market about 5km away to buy supplies, or buy some pork to improve their meals,” Mr. Phong recalled.

Students of class 3A3, Tung Qua Lin Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnamese class. (Photo: NVCC)

Because there is no electricity and life is inconvenient, Mr. Phong and the teachers in the school still prepare lesson plans by candlelight every night. In the winter in the highlands, the wind whistles through the gaps between the planks of the makeshift room. However, overcoming the harshness of the climate and the hardships of life, many teachers still persevere in their villages, bringing letters to their students.

Mr. Phong said he felt much luckier than his colleagues who came to work from the lowlands, because he was originally from the highlands and had adapted to the difficult living conditions here. Moreover, his house was only 27km from the school, so he could visit his family every weekend.

Working in remote border areas, if not truly coming from love and devotion to students, perhaps nothing can keep teachers in school.

“Teaching literacy is not simply teaching students knowledge, especially in places where universal education is still difficult, the most important thing is to have the companionship and support of students' parents.

Life is difficult, so children in Tung Qua Lin have to help their families look after their younger siblings and work in the fields. In addition, the weather here is quite harsh, during the lean season there are often dangerous hailstorms and landslides, and in addition, crop failures and famine… When life requires eating every meal, many families no longer think about their children's education. The journey to school for children in the highlands is therefore full of obstacles.

I often go to the children's houses to play, not only to encourage them to come to class, but also to visit, meet and talk with their parents. When teachers understand the parents' feelings, it is easier for them to share. From there, they convince their families to create conditions for their children to go to school regularly, giving them hope for a brighter future. Over time, the parents also consider the teachers as family members, occasionally inviting the teachers to come down to their house to play and have dinner. That sincere, simple feeling is extremely precious to me,” Mr. Phong confided.

Take money from your salary to cook lunch for your students.

Mr. Phong started cooking lunch for his students in 2020. Previously, according to Decree 116/2016/ND-CP of the Government in 2016, which regulates support policies for students and primary schools in extremely disadvantaged communes and villages, most students were entitled to boarding support because their houses were 4km away from the school.

However, since the concrete road connecting Ho Meo village at the foot of the mountain to Tung Qua Lin school at the top of the mountain was built, the distance from home to school has been shortened, meaning that no student lives more than 4km from school and is no longer eligible for boarding support.

2-3 km walk, it sounds relatively easy but in fact, the road from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain is mostly steep and very difficult to walk. Besides, with the small and weak physique of the children, it takes an hour to go up the 3km steep road to school, plus sunny and rainy days, the journey is very difficult. Therefore, most students bring lunch to school. However, there are also some students who do not bring lunch, go home at noon and then skip school in the afternoon.

Mr. Phong visited and gave gifts to the students' families. (Photo: NVCC)

Teacher Phong sadly talks about the children's lunch boxes: “In the morning, many children only bring white rice to school. The better-off children have boiled chayote and some even eat rice with spicy vegetables.”

Unable to bear seeing his students skip school or eat plain rice for meals, Mr. Phong decided to use his monthly salary to buy instant noodles, eggs, and sometimes meat or pork rinds to cook lunch for the students.

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“At that time, my monthly income was about 8 million VND, each month I set aside about 2 million VND to buy food to cook for the children,” Mr. Phong confided.

However, realizing that he alone could not help the children much more, Mr. Phong shared posts on his personal Facebook or Zalo page to call for more help from friends and benefactors.

The male teacher shared: “Some people send me fish, some buy eggs, or send me cash. Whoever can help the children in some way is good.”

Currently, there are about 20 students in the class staying in the teacher's room for lunch. Teacher Phong usually divides the food into two trays, each tray has about 3-4 dishes including meat, vegetables, soup, eggs… All the dishes are cooked by the teacher himself.

Worried that the students would be tired and hungry after school, and not have time for a lunch break, Mr. Phong prepared the food and stored it in the refrigerator the night before. When there was no class or during recess, he would go back to his room and cook rice, and when school was over, he would just cook more food. So the poor students in the village had a delicious meal, and they were full enough to continue studying in the afternoon.

In the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, due to a lack of classrooms at the main school, Mr. Phong was assigned to teach grade 3 at the village school. Due to limited facilities and small classrooms, Mr. Phong plans to use an electric stove to cook right in the classroom and then divide the food into lunch boxes for the children.

Not only caring about every meal and sleep for his students, Mr. Phong also persistently nurtures joy and gives motivation to go to school to children in the highlands. Brand new textbooks and notebooks at the beginning of the new school year, boots supporting the children's feet to go to school… are all given to the students by Mr. Phong with his own money or through fundraising.

The new boots that help the students go to school were sponsored by Mr. Phong and given to them. (Photo: NVCC)

Many days after school, Mr. Phong would buy more cakes, candies or make some instant noodles for his students before they went home. The lingering looks from the students at that time were the motivation that made him believe more in his journey of spreading knowledge.

Ms. Lu Thi Lan Huong, Principal of Tung Qua Lin Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, said: “Mr. Phong is a typical example of a teacher who is dedicated to his profession, devoted to his students, and enthusiastic about school and local activities.”

After 16 years of working in the profession, Mr. Phong always cherishes beautiful memories of the school and the generations of students here. Recalling the unforgettable memories, the male teacher emotionally shared: “That afternoon, November 19, 2020, while I was teaching, the class monitor and another student asked to go out. At that time, I was worried because 10 minutes later, they still hadn't returned. It turned out that they had gone to pick flowers to give to the teacher on November 20. “We give it to you, teacher! Tomorrow is November 20, we don't have money to buy a gift, so we picked wild sunflowers for you…” – that is the most meaningful gift in my teaching career”.

Children in the highlands pick flowers to give to their teachers on November 20. (Photo: NVCC)

The story of teacher Dong Van Phong's journey of spreading knowledge and simple lunches gives us more faith in the bright picture of education in disadvantaged areas. In schools perched on the hills of the border, there are still teachers who diligently teach, with a passionate heart and love, helping poor students to go to school.

Nguyet Anh

https://giaoduc.net.vn/bo-hoa-da-quy-la-mon-qua-y-nghia-nhat-dip-2011-cua-thay-phong-post245245.gd

Nguồn: https://truonglehongphong.edu.vn
Danh mục: Giáo Dục