Ho Chi Minh City announces 50 typical teachers in 50 years of building and developing education

On the afternoon of November 17, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City announced a list of 50 typical teachers with outstanding contributions in the period 1975-2025, marking the journey of building, innovating and developing the city's education after the country's reunification.

This list was selected from thousands of teachers, administrators and lecturers who have been dedicated to the education sector in Ho Chi Minh City for half a century. Many of them are still working and some have passed away, but the educational legacy they left behind continues to be inherited and promoted.

Among the 50 outstanding faces are individuals who are the “originators” of the city’s education sector. Mr. Luong Le Dong, the first Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City after the reunification, held the term 1975-1976, during the Military Administration period. Although he only held the position for a short time, he contributed to shaping the city’s education system during a particularly difficult period.

Mr. Bui Thanh Khiet, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City from 1976 to 1978, is a special case. Born in 1924 in Sa Dec, he joined the Liberation Army in 1945, was captured, tortured and imprisoned by the French but still maintained his revolutionary spirit. After studying and researching in the Soviet Union and returning to the South to fight, he held many important positions in the army and revolutionary government. After April 30, 1975, he was a Standing Member of the Saigon-Gia Dinh Military Management Committee, then Director of the Department of Education of Ho Chi Minh City before being transferred to Hanoi to hold the position of Deputy Minister of Education.

The list also recognizes the contributions of Mr. Le Quang Vinh, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City in 1978-1979, who was a death row inmate in the "tiger cage" of Con Dao for 15 years. After 1975, he was assigned many important responsibilities, from Director of the Department of Education and Training to Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs.

Notably, Ms. Truong Thi Hong, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City (1981-1990), was the only female director of the Department in the past 50 years.

The following is a list of 50 typical teachers of the Ho Chi Minh City education sector in half a century of construction and development.

Teachers in Ho Chi Minh City