More than 30 years of unpaid teaching
On the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20, we had the opportunity to visit Ms. Nguyen Thi Do (82 years old) in Lai Hieu Ward, Nga Bay City, Hau Giang Province. People here often call her by the affectionate name "Miss Ba Do".
Entering the small, simple house, we could not help but be moved when we saw the warm words “Charity Classroom” placed right in front of the house. The classroom only had a small blackboard and a few old tables and chairs placed close together for the children to sit and study.
Miss Ba Do with her silver hair and skinny hands still carefully writes each letter on the board, teaching the lesson in detail. The children listen attentively and take notes in their notebooks to grasp the knowledge.
According to Ms. Ba Do, in the past, after graduating from Vinh Long Pedagogical College, she taught for a short time, but due to family circumstances, she had to put aside her dream of standing on the podium.
In 1990, seeing many children from poor backgrounds having to drop out of school to follow their parents to make a living, she decided to open a free class at home, teaching children from the first lessons to basic knowledge of Math, Vietnamese, English...
Up to now, with more than 30 years of unpaid teaching, Ms. Ba Do has helped eliminate illiteracy for thousands of poor children in the locality. Many generations of students, thanks to her teaching, have now grown up, become successful and have stable jobs.
Not just teaching letters
Ms. Ba Do said that currently, the class has more than 20 students. Students can arrange to come to class at any time and she is ready to teach.
“Summer is the time when the class is most crowded, sometimes up to more than 100 students, from grades 1 to 9. With this number, I have to divide the class into morning, afternoon, and evening hours to be able to teach,” said Ms. Ba Do.
The charity class does not stop at teaching letters, but is also a place where Ms. Ba Do can impart lessons on ethics and lifestyle, helping children understand the value of kindness, living in harmony and studying and working hard.
After more than 6 years of studying with Ms. Ba Do, Cao Hoang Long (12 years old, Lai Hieu ward) shared that, due to difficult family circumstances, he had to drop out of school early, and did not know how to read or write well.
“Since studying with Ms. Ba Do, I have learned to read and write, calculate, and learn more about English. She also regularly teaches us to be polite to our grandparents, obey our parents, and love our siblings,” Hoang Long said warmly.
As a parent whose child attends a charity class, Mr. Pham Van Manh (40 years old, Lai Hieu ward) confided: “Our family is poor, my wife and I work for hire but still cannot afford to pay for our child’s education. Fortunately, thanks to this class, my child can read and write and is taught to be much more obedient.”
As each day passes, in that small corner of the yard there is still a teacher who silently devotes her life to sowing the seeds of knowledge, without receiving any remuneration. Now that she is old and her health is not as good as before, Ms. Ba Do still maintains the class over the years, with no intention of stopping.
Saying goodbye to Miss Ba Do, what moved us most was her simple saying: "I just hope that you have the knowledge to rise up, nothing more"...
