Breakfast keeps poor students

GD&TĐ - Not wanting students to leave class because of hunger, teachers at Kim Dong Primary School (Tu Mo Rong, Quang Ngai) joined hands to cook free breakfast for hundreds of children.

That simple but warm gesture is helping to keep children going to school.

Teachers in the kitchen, students warm hearts

Tu Mo Rong Commune (Quang Ngai) has a terrain of mainly steep hills, difficult roads, and low living standards. Awareness of the role of education among some parents is not yet sufficient, so the situation of students dropping out of school still occurs. Not wanting children to leave class for food, Kim Dong Primary School finds many ways to keep them, including taking care of each meal with the cooperation of teachers and the community.

According to Ms. Ho Thi Thuy Van - Principal of the school, in the 2025 - 2026 school year, the whole school has 708 students, nearly 100% of whom are Xo Dang. Many children live far away and go to school hungry in the morning. Based on this reality, the school discussed with parents and agreed to cook free breakfast for 536 students.

“Previously, according to regulations, boarding students were only supported with lunch, but there was often excess food. Meanwhile, students often came to class in the morning with an empty stomach, affecting their health and learning. Based on that reality, we boldly proposed cooking free breakfast. The budget was balanced from the lunch support source, teachers' contributions and the generosity of benefactors,” said Ms. Van.

Every day, from 5am, the school’s communal kitchen is already on fire. Smoke from the kitchen mixed with the smell of fried onions and broth wafts throughout the schoolyard still covered in mist. More than 10 teachers, some cutting vegetables, some blanching noodles, some pouring broth, busily working like real chefs. The clattering of knives and cutting boards mixed with the bustling calls to each other, all create a familiar rhythm of a morning in the highlands.

After only an hour, hot bowls of pho and porridge were ready. At exactly 6 o’clock, groups of students chattered in, their eyes still sleepy but their faces lit up as they received the warm breakfast from their teachers.

Mrs. Van brought the bowl of pho and bent down to ask her student: "Are you tired from going to class today? Try to eat a lot and eat well to gain strength to study well."

In addition to breakfast, every afternoon students also get to drink an extra carton of milk to have more energy for the journey home.

Each staff and teacher contributes a little to make breakfast for poor students.

Spread love

Having been with the school for 20 years, Ms. Hoang Thi Kim Oanh - a teacher of class 1A1 shared: "The children here are always in need, so I try to arrange my family affairs to make sure the students have a full breakfast. Only when they have a full stomach can they study well, and teachers also have less trouble in motivating students to come to class."

In response to the teachers' concern, parents were happy and excited because their children had better conditions when going to school. Mrs. Y Ram (Kon Linh village) was moved: "We are farmers, life is still difficult. Taking care of our children to go to school is already very difficult. Therefore, many days the children go to school without having breakfast or have nothing to eat. Now the school provides free breakfast, the children have a full meal, the family also has less trouble."

For students, the joy is even more evident. Y Bao An, from a poor family with many siblings, confided: “Before, there were many days when I went to class hungry. Now that the teachers take care of breakfast, I am very happy. I promise to be good and study well.”

Not only cooking breakfast, for more than 5 years now, the school has also maintained free lunch for 74 non-boarding students and directly raised 25 orphaned students with especially difficult circumstances. The funding for this activity is largely from teachers' voluntary contributions, selling pigs and chickens to raise funds and support from benefactors.

To maintain meals for poor students, on the first day of the school year, the school also launched the “Piggy Bank” movement. Every penny and every package of instant noodles contributed by teachers, parents and students is filled with love.

“The school launched a piggy bank campaign to raise funds to help poor students, I found it very meaningful. I also participated, although it was not much but it was from the heart,” said A Nhat Thien Hung (class 5A1).

Mr. Tran Quoc Huy - Chairman of Tu Mo Rong Commune People's Committee commented: "Kim Dong Primary School cooking breakfast, taking care of lunch and taking care of poor and orphaned students is a humane gesture, contributing to improving the quality of education. This is a model that needs to be replicated so that many children who are not in the boarding school category also have more opportunities to go to school."

With the consensus of teachers, students, parents and the community, Kim Dong Primary School is continuing to write a beautiful story about the relationship between teachers and students in the highlands. Each hot breakfast, each coin in the small piggy bank is a seed of love, nurturing the dream of studying and sowing more faith in Xơ Đăng students on their journey to find knowledge.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/bua-sang-giu-chan-hoc-tro-ngheo-post749281.html