[Photo] "Popular education class" on the high mountain of green-uniformed party members

For more than 20 years, professional military captain Lo Van Thoai has been tirelessly working to eradicate illiteracy for ethnic minorities in the highland communes of Sop Cop district, Son La province. With a diverse group of "students", the lessons of this exemplary party member of Nam Lanh Border Guard Station are jokingly called "popular education classes" by his comrades, teammates and people in the area.

Being a Laotian, born and raised in Muong Va village, Muong Va commune, Sop Cop district, Son La province, since childhood, professional soldier Captain Lo Van Thoai has always dreamed of "sowing letters" in the highlands. Later, when he became a cadre of the Mass Mobilization Team, especially since he was honored to join the Party in September 2008, he devoted himself to pursuing the dream of eliminating illiteracy for ethnic minorities. In the photo: It was late at night, but comrade Lo Van Thoai was still diligently preparing teaching plans after work.

Every night, from 7pm to about 9:30pm, the lights are on in Mr. Thoai's "popular education class". From hundreds of meters away, passersby can hear the sound of the class spelling out loud, echoing through the dense mountains and forests.

The "students" of the class are ethnic groups of H'Mong, Thai, Lao... Among them, many have grandchildren but still diligently attend class every day. Sharing with reporters of Nhan Dan Newspaper, the people said: Classes usually have 100% of the class because no one wants to miss even one class, especially when the teacher is never absent.

Many students in this special class have to wear reading glasses. They said that outside of class hours, they often play letter puzzles with their grandchildren at home, even though they were very shy and embarrassed when they first came to class.

20 years ago, Captain Lo Van Thoai started to encourage local people to attend literacy classes and was immediately and outrightly rejected. Many families did not even talk to him because they thought "learning to read and write is useless, in the end you will just go to work in the fields".

Learning from the experience of being invited back right at the doorstep of the people, the border guard officer began to apply the "4 together" principle, which means "eating together, living together, working together, and speaking the ethnic language together". During the campaign, he persistently explained to the people in the highlands to better understand the advantages of knowing how to read and write to escape poverty.

To each "student", Captain Lo Van Thoai considers them as family. Not only does he always give thoughtful instructions, he also often encourages them, creating a friendly, close and exciting atmosphere for each lesson. Gradually, the people get used to affectionately calling the party member born in 1981 "teacher Thoai".

According to professional military captain Lo Van Thoai, "standing in class" in front of students of diverse ethnicities, ages, genders... is not simple. With older "students", he often has to be more patient than with younger students, even though they all love to study and attend class diligently.

Thanks to the patience, skill and sincere affection of the green-uniformed teacher, the "students" in the class progressed very quickly. In just a few months, the people basically knew how to read and write. From then on, "teacher Thoai" began to incorporate propaganda content about the Party's policies, the State's policies and laws on economic , cultural and social development of ethnic minority areas into his lectures.

Knowing how to read and write, people begin to understand more about television programs, especially agricultural extension channels, and exchange of farming knowledge. Many people also diligently read more agricultural documents on smart devices to apply to daily production life.

Coming to Captain Thoai's "popular education class" these days, one can easily feel the intimate, cozy atmosphere like a family, despite the weather starting to get cold.

In the classroom, bright smiles are always on the lips of the "students" regardless of age or gender. From the classroom, there are people who have become village and hamlet cadres, trusted and given important responsibilities by the people.

It is known that Captain Lo Van Thoai has been awarded certificates of merit many times by the Department of Education and Training, the Son La Province Education Promotion Association, and the Son La Province Border Guard as an "Advanced Soldier". Recently, he has become a delegate of the "Sharing with Teachers" program in 2024 jointly organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union, the Ministry of Education and Training, and Thien Long Group.

LINH PHAN

Source: https://nhandan.vn/anh-lop-binh-dan-hoc-vu-tren-reo-cao-cua-thay-giao-quan-ham-xanh-post842273.html