Husband carries baby so wife can go to literacy class

The image of Mr. Ly A Po standing with his baby on his back in front of the classroom door, occasionally asking his wife "Do you know how to write yet?" touched anyone who saw it.

Special classes

It has been more than 2 months since attending the literacy class, and now Ms. Thao Thi Mo (Tam Chung commune, Muong Lat district) can write simple letters even though she has to bring her son who is less than 1 year old to class. That is the effort of both mother and son on the journey to find "literacy" with the hope of changing their lives.

Ms. Thao Thi Mo (Tam Chung commune, Muong Lat district, Thanh Hoa) goes to literacy class every day with her little son on her back.

As a Mong woman living in the mountainous commune of Tam Chung in Muong Lat district - one of the most difficult mountainous areas of Thanh Hoa province, Thao Thi Mo is like most other girls: married early, not much education, gave birth to children when they were not yet adults, their lives revolved around the circle of poverty and backwardness. "In the past, I did not go to school so I could not speak the common language. Now that the cadres have come to encourage me to go to school, I try to go so that I can learn more" - Mo shared through the "interpreter" who is an official of the Women's Union of the commune.

Following Ms. Mo, we arrived at the literacy class of Tam Chung commune at around 6:45 p.m. Everyone took the opportunity to ask each other questions, and the children and adults reviewed their lessons very animatedly. A few minutes later, the teachers who were soldiers from Tam Chung Border Post (Muong Lat district) showed up. The "teachers" brought with them not only lesson plans but also new notebooks and some pencils to give to the people in the class.

On time (7pm), the class started taking roll call. "Our class today has 36/37 students, only 1 student is absent because he is sick" - "teacher" Dao Nguyen Tuc started the class. "Let's review the lesson. A... do a da..., o... bo o bo huyen bo, da bo"... and so on, above there was a teacher teaching the letters and pronunciation, below there was a teacher carefully going from table to table guiding the students to write each stroke.

Captain Dao Nguyen Tuc (Border Guard Station of Tam Chung Commune, Muong Lat District) directly stands on the podium at the literacy and re-literacy eradication class.

According to Ms. Ha Thi Nhon, President of the Women's Union of Muong Lat district, in order to concretize the plans of the program "Accompanying women in the border areas", since the end of 2023, the District Women's Union has coordinated with Tam Chung Border Guard Station (Muong Lat) to organize many literacy classes for people in the district.

For many years, the situation of people being illiterate, especially re-illiteracy, has been very common in the area. We hope that through the classes to eradicate illiteracy and prevent re-illiteracy, the propaganda of policies and laws will take place more smoothly, contributing to changing the way of thinking and doing, bringing people a brighter future in the current period of continuous social development.

Ms. Ha Thi Nhon, President of Women's Union of Muong Lat district (Thanh Hoa)

To get 37 people to attend a literacy class in a mountainous district, the work of organizing and mobilizing people was not easy. Captain Dao Nguyen Tuc - Tam Chung Border Guard Station - said that the soldiers of the Station had gone to people's houses at least 3 times with the Women's Union officers to mobilize.

"Initially, only 7 people registered to study. We went to each small residential area to coordinate the dissemination of the law. After that, the border guards and the Women's Union officers organized a few cultural exchange programs with the people. Through these activities, I introduced them to other villages, where many literacy classes were organized, the benefits of studying, and how going to school changed their lives. Just like that, when people learned about each other, the number of registered students gradually increased. From 7 people to 23, 27, and then 33 people present on the opening day. Today, the class has continued to increase to 37 people" - Captain Dao Nguyen Tuc excitedly said.

One of the couples attending the literacy class in Tam Chung commune (Muong Lat district)

Accordingly, the students participating in the class are also very diverse. Many are teenagers who used to be literate but due to personal circumstances dropped out of school, now also come to learn to read and write. The rest are mainly adult women and men. The oldest person this year is 46 years old. The class has up to 3 couples, husband and wife, and countless mothers who bring their children to the literacy class in the dark night of the mountains and forests of western Thanh Hoa.

Heartwarming results

While patiently teaching the students, Captain Dao Nguyen Tuc shared that in a position different from his daily work, he was initially confused and a bit "shaken" when the unit commander and the district Women's Union assigned him the task.

When I first came to the class, I was really heartbroken to see that there were people who were nearly 50 years old and still illiterate. Therefore, I spent time researching many documents, referring to the experiences of some teachers "in the remote areas" and preparing a separate lesson plan to teach in this special class.

Captain Dao Nguyen Tuc - Tam Chung Commune Border Guard Station (Muong Lat)

To make teaching and learning more effective, the class will have 1-2 more teachers to directly guide and correct each stroke and pronunciation for the students in the class. Thanks to the harmonious coordination with the practical curriculum of the District Women's Union and Tam Chung Border Guard Station, after more than 2 months of implementation, many students in the class have made significant progress.

Va Thi Bau (19 years old) - the class monitor of this special class - said that she had finished 8th grade of junior high school, then dropped out of school to get married and stayed home to have children and work in the fields. Seeing her husband still going to school and later joining the army, Bau also longed to go back to school. Thanks to the literacy class, Bau felt like she was able to return to the beautiful years of her school days even though she did not have many friends of the same age. Thanks to her better learning ability, Bau also joined the "teachers" in reviewing lessons at the beginning of class so that everyone could review.

Looking at the shy faces, the hands holding the pens still scribbling but still diligently practicing, many people cannot help but feel sorry for the reality of illiteracy and re-illiteracy in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. However, besides that, many rays of hope have also appeared when people actively change and diligently learn from here. Like the image of Mr. Ly A Po standing with his child on his back in front of the classroom door, occasionally asking his wife "Do you know how to write yet?" makes anyone who sees it touched.

Ms. Hoang Thi Cam - President of the Women's Union of Tam Chung Commune (Muong Lat) - shared: "The greatest success of this program is not only bringing literacy to members and women, but we have also promoted and mobilized husbands and fathers to agree and encourage their wives and children to go to school. This will be the premise for many families to learn from each other, contributing to helping women and girls get closer to gender equality, first of all in education".

The class is expected to end after 6 months. Ms. Ha Thi Nhon said: "Seeing the progress of the older sisters who are still patiently studying, we are very touched. In the coming time, the District Women's Union will continue to accompany the Border Guard to organize more classes, helping members, women and ethnic minority children in the district with difficult circumstances, and the Association's sponsored children to participate in studying."

In the coming time, the Women's Union of Muong Lat district will continue to coordinate with the Border Guard in the district to organize more classes to eliminate illiteracy and re-illiteracy to help people change their lives through knowledge.

The class was scheduled to end at 9pm. Perhaps it was almost bedtime for the children, so occasionally, amidst the students’ mumbling readings, there were the cries of the little boy lying behind Ms. Thao Thi Mo. Gently moving her arms to hold her baby and breastfeeding him, Ms. Mo lulled her baby to sleep by mumbling the single words the teacher had just taught her. It was unclear whether the little boy felt anything, but hopefully when he grows up, knowing his mother’s efforts, he will follow in her footsteps and change his life through knowledge.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/chong-diu-con-de-vo-di-hoc-lop-xoa-mu-chu-20240613164407151.htm