Flowers on the pages of a book

Teacher Alang Thi Diep tutors students at night. Photo: THIEN TUNG

A role model for children

Ms. Alang Thi Diep, a teacher at Chu Van An Primary Boarding School (Tra Tap Commune), a Co Tu native of the Tay Giang mountains and forests, has chosen Tra Tap as a meaningful stopover in her life. Every week, she travels nearly 200 kilometers of forest roads to get to class, a distance that just mentioning it is enough to feel arduous.

Every time I met the young teacher, I was a little surprised by her dynamism and enthusiasm at local programs and events. What was even more surprising was that during the recent flood, she and her colleagues rolled up their pants and carried each piece of wood and table to help people move their houses.

“There are many shortages here, so I have to try a little harder. Every effort, no matter how small, I believe will bring good results in the future. But teaching children to read and count is not enough, because the regular job of teachers is also to take care of the students’ lives, replacing their parents when they are at school,” Ms. Diep confided.

Ms. Diep actively participates in community activities to help people in the highlands. Photo: THIEN TUNG

Outside of class, teacher Alang Thi Diep also “plays the role” of a hairdresser and a manicurist. Whatever students need that they cannot do themselves, she and her colleagues are ready to take on. Just like that, the young teacher has accompanied and become a close sister and mother to generations of students in the highlands.

“I was also born and raised in the mountains, so I know what the children can do and what they need. I want them to be confident, to step out and explore life, like I have been doing, so that their future will not depend on farming,” Ms. Diep said.

As a fellow countryman, Alang Thi Diep was also shy and self-conscious because of the deprivations of growing up far from the lights, the glamorous city with its crowded traffic and the “advances” of education that were not yet accessible in the mountains. However, it was the dedication and care of her teachers at that time that helped the young girl gradually gain confidence and want to assert her position in society.

Ms. Diep shared: “Now, every time I come back to visit my old school and teachers, I am always proud that I have become the person I want to be, the person that my teachers have tried to cultivate and shape. The me of today is the result of what my teachers have nurtured in their career of educating people.”

Flowering of knowledge

Young and enthusiastic, teacher Nguyen Thi Phuong Uyen of Vo Nguyen Giap Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Tra Tap commune) has become a bright spot in bringing science into the lives of students in mountainous areas.

Highland students learn new scientific knowledge from their teacher. Photo: THIEN TUNG

Leaving the lowlands with all the conditions, Ms. Uyen went to Tra Don to work in 2021, then returned to Tra Tap when she was officially recruited in 2023. During all those years of work, the young teacher has always actively applied new teaching methods, things she learned in the classroom, helping her students approach science in the most sensitive way.

“Everyone asks me why I chose to stay in the mountains. I just know that the children in the highlands deserve to learn science like other students, and then I started by teaching STEM to my students. At first, it was extremely difficult because most of the children here were unfamiliar with this knowledge, but now it is different, my students have mastered science in fields suitable to their abilities,” Ms. Uyen shared.

When the OCOP Mam Xanh herbal shampoo product won second prize in the district-level STEM competition, the joy was not only for teachers and students but also spread to the community. It is proof that students in the highlands are fully capable of creating, exploring and mastering knowledge. Through each project, the students become more confident, know how to work in groups, know how to present ideas in front of a crowd, skills that were previously difficult to develop if taught using simple methods.

“These experiences can nurture dreams and ignite passion, so that children see that knowledge is not far away, but is a tool to help them change their lives, opening up opportunities to explore and develop themselves in the future. Seeing them become more confident every day, I believe more and more that education in the highlands can change from the smallest things,” Ms. Uyen said.

Those stories are just a small piece in the beautiful picture of the education sector in the Tra Tap highlands. To teachers, each Xo Dang and Ca Dong child is as innocent as a stream of clear water that is progressing day by day, knowing how to touch even the smallest dreams. Each neatly written letter, each academic achievement, each STEM product created... are all "flowers" crystallized from the efforts of students and the dedication of teachers. On the highland books, those flowers are not brightly colored, but are durable, rustic and imbued with love. They bloom from the sweat of teachers, from the will to rise of students, from the sharing of the whole community.

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