90-year-old associate professor donates 2 billion VND to school: Repaying life for letting me become a teacher

Two weeks ago, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry received a special gift: 2 billion VND from Associate Professor, Dr. Doan Van Dien, former Principal from 1989 to 1994. He donated that amount of money to establish the Doan Van Dien Scholarship Fund, to support poor students who have overcome difficulties and lecturers who have made many contributions.

The good news spread quickly not only because of its material value, but also because of the story behind it about a nearly 90-year-old teacher who has devoted his whole life to education and has never kept anything for himself.

"In my whole life I only have one Resistance Medal"

Associate Professor, Dr. Doan Van Dien was born in 1937 (actual age 1936) in Phu Yen . At the age of 9, he joined the revolution. At the age of 17, he gathered in the North to study Mathematics - Physics at Hanoi Pedagogical University, then transferred to the Agricultural Mechanization major. Since then, his life has been associated with education, persistently through each role: Lecturer, dean, vice principal and then principal. He was also the one who went to B (Northern cadres to supplement the South) 3 times, crossing Truong Son to the South during the years of war.

After the country's reunification, he returned to the University of Agriculture IV (now Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry) and started to build the Faculty of Agricultural Mechanics. From a few dozen students, this place became a prestigious faculty, contributing to laying the foundation for the agricultural mechanical engineering industry in the South. Five years later, he held the position of principal of this school in the difficult post-renovation period, when education was still full of problems and challenges.

W-Assoc.Prof. Doan Van Dien.jpg — Associate Professor Doan Van Dien, former Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry - who donated 2 billion VND to the school to set up a scholarship fund. Photo: *Le Huyen*

I met Associate Professor Doan Van Dien in a small house shaded by trees on Hoa Hung Street, District 10 (old). The teacher was nearly 90 years old, spoke calmly, and his eyes were still bright. He said that he had worked in education all his life but had not received the title of Meritorious Teacher or People's Teacher because he felt he was "not worthy". He also refused to complete the application to receive the Labor Medal.

“I only have the Anti-American Resistance Medal - a medal that many Vietnamese people have received,” he said calmly.

When he retired from public school, he received a monthly pension of more than 6.4 million VND and now it has increased to about 11 million VND. But for him, retirement is just “an administrative procedure”. For the past 2 decades, he has been working hard to build schools and work because he believes that education will change people and society.

Leaving the Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, he and his colleagues founded Lac Hong University and then Viet Thanh High School. He called it his dream of “building a decent school”.

“When I founded Lac Hong University, I dreamed of it being a Harvard in Dong Nai. Many people said I was delusional. Harvard has hundreds of years of history and a world position, while Lac Hong started from zero. But I believe the Southeast region has the right time and place to have a top-notch prestigious university,” Associate Professor Dien shared.

At Viet Thanh High School, he wanted to find the answer to why students were “inactive” and lacked motivation. “I saw many talented and intelligent students but their roots were not strong. I wanted to try a model of education that was based on solid roots, so that students could enter university with a real foundation,” he said.

A teacher must be better than his students, but must teach so that when they grow up, the students are better than him...

Looking back on 60 years in the profession, Associate Professor Doan Van Dien said he has experienced all the ups and downs of Vietnamese education. He believes that education cannot be separated from production and life. Students need to learn theory to understand, but must practice to do and must learn to be human to grow up.

He believes that "A teacher must be one head better than his students, but must teach so that after graduation, the students will be one head better than him."

He explained that a good teacher is someone with deep knowledge and vision to guide, but the ultimate goal is not to keep students behind, but to help them go further, surpassing what the teacher has done. A teacher does not keep knowledge to himself, but must open his mind and give students the opportunity to go further.

2 billion VND - savings of more than 20 years and a heart to repay life

Initially, Associate Professor Doan Van Dien planned to give a larger amount to the Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry but failed. In the end, he spent 2 billion VND - the money that was the sweat and effort of more than 20 years working at a private school - to establish a scholarship fund. According to the agreement, the school will deposit it in the bank, use the interest to award scholarships to poor students and reward lecturers, maintain it forever, and award it annually at the opening ceremony and on November 20.

Not stopping there, he also established a scholarship fund of 1 billion VND to continue going to school for poor students with good academic performance in his hometown in Xuan Loc commune - Phu Yen, now Dak Lak, named after his brother, martyr Doan Van Tuong. The locality will also deposit the money in the bank, using the interest to award scholarships to poor students every year at the opening ceremony, to maintain it forever. He plans to establish another fund at Lac Hong University when he has enough conditions.

In his old age, he rarely talks about his achievements, but only about “fullness in his heart”. When I asked him how he would spend his old age after giving away most of his savings, he calmly replied: “If you know enough, you will live enough. I gave my children a fishing rod. This part is to repay life, to repay students, to repay the teaching profession. This scholarship is my way of showing gratitude to those who helped me become a teacher”.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/pho-giao-su-90-tuoi-tang-truong-2-ty-tra-on-cuoc-doi-da-cho-toi-lam-thay-2463293.html