Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang is the head of the Marie Curieeducation system (Hanoi) but above all, he is a beloved teacher in the hearts of many generations of students and many people who were not his direct students.
Want but can't have
Teacher Khang shared that in the past few days, when the whole country was looking towards the people in the mountainous areas of the North who were severely affected by storms and floods, he also had many sleepless nights. Many times he shed tears even though he only updated the situation through the press, especially the flash flood that caused devastation in Lang Nu (Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province).
But just crying? What to do to ease the pain? So the teacher thought of the way he could do it was to adopt the surviving children, make up for it, so that they could be warm, well-fed, and properly educated.
That thought motivated Mr. Khang.
He connected with a group of reporters working at the scene to ask them to talk to the People's Committee and the Department of Education and Training of Bao Yen district, asking for help in compiling a complete list of children aged 15 and under from 39 households affected by flash floods in Lang Nu.
Teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang with a list of Lang Nu students swept away by flood. Photo: TRUNG KIEN
Not only orphans but also all children who survived the terrible flood, Mr. Khang adopted them until they were 18 years old, by providing 3 million VND per month for each child, transferred directly to their parents or guardians.
The most important thing that Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang often reminds himself and each person accompanying his project is still "the passionate fire in the heart".
There are still victims missing after the flash flood. Therefore, the list of adopted children is still pending or will be added after the search has final results. But just looking at the list of one of the schools where Lang Nu children study, Mr. Khang burst into tears: "Even if I wanted to adopt many, there wouldn't be any to adopt!". The list of 20 students from Lang Nu has 13 "lost", only 7 children are lucky to survive, injured by the flood.
Mr. Khang shared: At the end of September, there will be a "Temporary Nu Village" - a temporary place for people to live before moving to the "New Nu Village". He will send staff from Marie Curie School to the temporary place to directly do the necessary work to be able to implement the "Project to raise children of Nu Village to survive flash floods" from October 2024.
He also kept the principle when implementing this project: not to solicit and not to accept contributions from anyone, inside or outside the school. While waiting for the list of children under 15 years old who were still alive and a new place for the people of Lang Nu, Mr. Khang happened to watch a report about student Nguyen Van Hanh (grade 12, Bao Yen High School No. 1, Bao Yen district) who was left alone after the flash flood through Lang Nu village.
Hearing Hanh say, “Maybe you have to drop out of school to make a living,” Mr. Khang immediately tried to contact Hanh’s teacher, asking her to advise Hanh to continue studying until grade 12 and possibly even higher, and he would support her education.
Teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang with students. Photo: NGUYEN LAM
“Hanh lost her father, and now the flood has taken her mother. Nothing can make up for the mental loss. But helping her continue her studies, Mr. Khang can do it,” said Mr. Khang.
The connection for Hanh to talk directly with Mr. Khang was done as quickly as possible and in that tearful phone call, Mr. Khang asked to accept Hanh as his grandson, encouraged him to try hard and "just tell me if you need anything".
When my teacher told me that I would be picked up and taken to the school dormitory and "I only need 3 million VND per month to spend comfortably", he immediately agreed to give Hanh 3 million VND per month.
When Hanh had just had his teacher open an account for him, Mr. Khang immediately transferred the living expenses for September - the first month of adopting Hanh, along with some money for her to buy a phone for Hanh so that they could occasionally talk.
Willing to take on difficult tasks
Mr. Khang's "Project to raise children in Lang Nu village to survive the flash flood" caused a strong stir in public opinion but was not too surprising to many people who knew him or followed his work for a long time.
When he was building the plan to raise children to survive in Lang Nu, he was also busy with the implementation of 4 large projects at the same time with a budget of hundreds of billions of VND for Meo Vac district ( Ha Giang province). The first project had not yet finished when he started the next project... and each project required a lot of effort and money.
The project to plant 30,000-40,000 trees in the forest in Khau Vai commune (Meo Vac district) started in 2021 and is on track to be completed by the end of this year.
Teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang with students in a fun program. Photo: TRUNG KIEN
In 2022, when the whole country implements the new general education program, Meo Vac district faces the reality of almost no English teachers at the primary level but cannot recruit anyone. Knowing the story, after considering and discussing, Mr. Khang decided to help by setting up the "English Teaching Project for Meo Vac Students", recruiting nearly 20 new teachers just to teach online for more than 26,000 third grade students of nearly 20 primary schools in Meo Vac, with a total budget of about 2 billion VND/school year. The project lasts for 3 school years, until this group of students graduate from primary school.
What makes Mr. Khang happiest is that many other individuals and organizations have found the model meaningful and have replicated it, even though the scale and method are simpler. Many schools in Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Lam Dong, etc. have also volunteered to help teach English online to the northern mountainous provinces that share the same situation of severe teacher shortage as Meo Vac.
When teaching English to Meo Vac students entered the second year, he was also worried that when it ended, Meo Vac would be in trouble again because there was still a shortage of teachers. He believed that giving a “fish” in times of need was very necessary, but to be long-term and sustainable, a “fishing rod” was needed.
Thinking so, in 2023, Mr. Khang proactively proposed to the People's Committee of Meo Vac district to coordinate the training of English teachers for the district in the form of recruitment, combined with socialization, under the name "Training English teachers for Meo Vac". Marie Curie School will support the training of 30 teachers for Meo Vac district with an estimated total cost of 6 - 12 billion VND.
In this project, Meo Vac district seeks students from local families who have been admitted to English language universities and arranges for them to teach at schools in the district after graduation. Marie Curie School supports students with training and accommodation costs of at least VND5 million/student/month (from December 2023). This level can increase to VND10 million/month, depending on their academic performance; the amount is transferred directly to their accounts each month of actual study. Currently, 17 students have participated in the project and will recruit 13 more students for training in the upcoming school year.
When the English teacher training project was stable, Mr. Khang was troubled by the desire that children in the northernmost part of the country could also study in a spacious, modern school that was no less than the school in Hanoi.
That thought urged him so much that during the 2024 Lunar New Year, while everyone was gathering to celebrate the spring, he locked himself in his office and personally outlined a specific plan to build a school for Meo Vac. Marie Curie School will sponsor about 100 billion VND to build facilities and equipment for the Marie Curie - Meo Vac Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities.
During the preparation phase, Mr. Khang assigned a focal point to work with the People's Committee of Meo Vac district, including 3 architects to coordinate the survey, design, and prepare the project construction documents. These are also the architects who designed the most beautiful and modern facilities of Marie Curie School in My Dinh and Long Bien (Hanoi).
Up to this point, the People's Committee of Meo Vac district has basically completed the selection of a suitable location to build the school. Teacher Khang and his colleagues are still urgently preparing the next tasks so that the "dream school" for Meo Vac children will soon appear.
Talking about his community projects, Mr. Khang always does not want to mention or draw attention to how much money he will spend, even though the amount can be hundreds of billions of dong. He believes that for those with a lot of money, donating money may be the easiest way; but when projects are built, with goals and plans, the investor will have to be responsible to the end.
After learning about what he did, a reporter asked: "What lesson do you want to convey to your students through that action?", Mr. Khang replied: "The lesson is written in the general education program of the Ministry of Education and Training, fully and correctly. I just do it so that my students can follow. That's all."
Although he knew it would be very difficult, he humorously called himself "The brother who overcame thousands of obstacles", so he was willing to take on the difficult task.
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