Thank you teachers for staying.

Despite numerous difficulties, many teachers remain in schools in mountainous regions. (Image source: TT/GD&TĐ)

(PLVN) - These are the teachers who have come and stayed in lands still facing countless difficulties. They have woven many fairy tales in real life, guiding their students' footsteps to distant shores.

"Teacher, please don't leave us."

Mr. Vu Van Tung (43 years old, a teacher at Dinh Nup Primary and Secondary School, Po To commune, Ia Pa district, Gia Lai province) shared that for the past 10 years, he has frequently witnessed poor students going to school hungry. During recess, many children would sneak away from class to find food at home to relieve their hunger.

“Our school is located in the villages of Bi Giông and Bi-Gia, Pờ Tó commune, Ia Pa district, Gia Lai province, known as the poorest villages in one of the poorest districts in the country,” Mr. Tùng said emotionally. Therefore, the teachers here spend their mornings teaching and their afternoons encouraging students to attend class. They visit several families each day. Persuading students to come to school is difficult, but preventing them from dropping out is even harder. In the early days, when the teachers arrived, many parents rejected them, even chasing them away and asking, “Why go to school? Will going to school cost money?...”

Faced with persistent poverty, Mr. Tung came up with the idea of creating a "Free Bread Stand." After hearing his story, a bakery owner decided to donate 60 loaves of bread each week. However, that wasn't enough for over 370 students, so Mr. Tung had to use a portion of his meager salary to buy more bread. On December 5, 2021, the "Free Bread Stand" officially opened.

From that day on, every morning Mr. Tung had to leave home at 4:00 AM to go to the bakery 25km away to pick up bread to distribute to students from 6:00 AM to 6:30 AM. Since the implementation of the "Free Bread Stand," students have been arriving at school on time, and student attendance has been maintained.

At the same time, Mr. Tung also established a livelihood fund. From the funds he raised, he bought goats and cows to donate to poor students with particularly difficult circumstances, helping their families develop economically , ensuring they have enough to eat, and allowing their children to attend school. In addition, he also supported students in seeking medical treatment. For example, one student suffered from a fungal infection, a rare fungus that had penetrated deep into the skull and brain. Mr. Tung took the student for treatment for five months before the illness was cured. Another case involved a student with congenital heart disease; thanks to Mr. Tung's connections, the student received 100% sponsorship for the surgery...

Sixteen years have passed since I started teaching in this impoverished area. Teacher Tung shared: “After many years here, I felt sorry for my wife who had to sacrifice everything to care for the family alone, and for the children who suffered because their father worked from dawn until dusk every day. In the summer of 2021, I wrote a letter requesting a transfer to a more favorable area. Coincidentally, a student read my letter and, along with their friends, met with me and expressed: ‘Teacher, please don’t leave us!’ I was deeply moved and immediately put away the application. For teachers like us, the affection and loyalty of our students is a huge motivation that helps us overcome all difficulties…”

At the recent "Sharing with Teachers" awards ceremony, Mr. Tung unexpectedly met one of his students, Thuy Van, currently a fourth-year student at the University of Foreign Languages, Da Nang University. In Van's memory, during her middle school years, Mr. Tung always diligently taught and guided her, meticulously preparing breakfast for each student with the love of a mother and a teacher. Not only that, he also helped support his students financially, even donating a cow to help them with their education. "The affection and love of our teachers are the motivation for us students to overcome difficulties and strive to study and train hard throughout our time at school. I deeply appreciate and am grateful for his sacrifices because, to me, he is like a special mother," Thuy Van emotionally expressed.

Teacher Vu Van Tung, Dinh Nup Primary and Secondary School, Po To Commune, Ia Pa District, Gia Lai Province.

"I always instill in my students the importance of effort and perseverance."

Mr. Danh Luc (born in 1986) is currently a teacher at Ban Tan Dinh Primary School (Kien Giang). In his 15 years of teaching, Mr. Luc has often considered giving up the profession due to the difficulties and hardships of teaching in a place lacking many basic facilities. Since childhood, Mr. Luc has cherished the dream of becoming a teacher, but his family circumstances prevented him from pursuing that dream. After finishing 12th grade, he continued working to help support his family financially.

After working for a while, Mr. Luc unexpectedly received notification that he had been awarded a full scholarship for a teacher training program at Kien Giang Teacher Training College. In 2008, after graduating, Mr. Luc taught at My Thai Secondary School in Hon Dat (Kien Giang): “At that time, right after graduation, my salary was only enough to cover living expenses. With a salary of 1 million VND/month, I couldn't even afford gasoline. The school was often damp and leaky at that time. On days with heavy rain and storms, I often had to sleep overnight at the school”...

Later, Mr. Luc requested a transfer to Ban Tan Dinh Primary School to be closer to his father. Due to a shortage of teachers, Mr. Luc was forced to teach a combined class for students in grades 1, 2, and 3. “Most of the students in the class were Khmer. This meant I had to teach bilingually because the students weren't fluent in Vietnamese. To be honest, I felt a bit discouraged during that period,” Mr. Luc said.

Sometimes, when he felt like giving up, he remembered the times the local people entrusted their children to him, and the times he saw the eager eyes of the students. Thinking of that, he continued to strive. In some cases, students dropped out of school to follow their parents to work in agriculture, so Mr. Luc went to their homes to persuade them and inquire about their well-being. Mr. Luc always reminded his students: "You may not be able to complete your education, but at least you must know how to read and write. If you get lost, you can read to find your way home. Or if you see a bottle of medicine, you can tell if it's poison or not..."

Ms. Quách Thị Bích Nụ (born in 1987) is currently the Principal of Yên Hòa Kindergarten, Yên Hòa commune, Đà Bắc district, Hòa Bình province. She grew up in a poor rural area along the Đà River, where her ancestors ceded land for the construction of the Hòa Bình Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Nhap Hamlet, Dong Ruong Commune, is a particularly remote and disadvantaged area in Da Bac District, Hoa Binh Province. The residents live scattered across the hillsides along the riverbanks, so transportation is primarily by boat. Many families do not own boats, making it very difficult to transport their children to and from school. Therefore, she volunteered to take the children to school to reassure the parents.

Recalling her early days working there, back in 2005, when she was a contract teacher earning only 50,000 VND per month, the only means of transportation for her and her students was a raft made from bamboo poles mixed with cement to create a boat. It was fine in sunny weather, but in bad weather—rain, fog, freezing temperatures—traveling became very difficult, and visibility was limited. At those times, she and her students would cautiously make their way forward or huddle along the shore, waiting for the wind to die down before continuing.

And so, quietly, day after day, morning and evening, Ms. Nụ managed the children's care while volunteering to row the boat, taking students from Nhạp hamlet to school. "Over the past 18 years, I don't remember exactly how many children I've transported or how many trips I've made. I only remember that in the school year, I transported at least two children, and in the year with the most, 18. I always consider those children as my own family..."

To date, in the new resettlement area after the historic flood of 2017, teachers and students no longer have to cross the river to get to school. Ms. Nu confided: "I never thought about stopping this work because it was too difficult, because if I quit, the children wouldn't be able to go to school. Or if they did, it would be very difficult and arduous. I can't help them with tuition fees or daily food expenses, but I always instill in them the motivation to persevere and strive because with effort, all dreams can come true"...

Throughout the country, there are teachers who have made silent sacrifices and cannot leave because of the bewildered eyes of their students. As Miss Universe H'Hen Niê expressed, she grew up in the mountains with outdated customs, and meeting these teachers was like seeing herself in her childhood. She was deeply moved and appreciative because the teachers did not give up, allowing her and many other children to reach their aspirations. And above all, for the great things that remain, these teachers are like "mothers" who will forever be cherished in the hearts of their students…

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/cam-on-thay-co-da-o-lai-post495969.html