Temporary room, real dream
In August, on the windy Truong Son mountain range, Con Roang village (Thuong Trach commune, Quang Tri province) seemed calmer than usual. The school year has ended for nearly 2 months, but in the grounds of Con Roang school, Thuong Trach Primary School No. 1, the sound of bamboo brooms still rings. Mr. Le Ngoc Hoan and some colleagues personally repaired the classroom walls, rearranged tables and chairs, and prepared to welcome students back after the summer vacation. This school has 2 locations, one of which has been built, the other is still studying in a wooden house.
"Teachers take a summer break but are not at ease. Remember each of the small faces of the students. The biggest worry is not knowing if there will be enough warm clothes and books for the children next year. I just hope it doesn't rain like that, so that the village road is less slippery and the children can still go to school..." - Mr. Hoan said while using his hand to mop up the old blackboard.
Recalling the days in class, Mr. Hoan was sad, early in the morning in Con Roang village, the school drum sound sounded like a wake-up call in the middle of the misty mountains and forests.
Teacher Le Ngoc Hoan - who has been attached to Thuong Trach Primary School No. 1 for nearly ten years, carries a bunch of old books, crosses the red dirt road with mud in the rainy season to get to class.
The classroom that Mr. Hoan calls "room" is actually a temporary house, with quick-packed wooden walls and corrugated iron roofs. No fans, no lights. Summer is as hot as a burning forest, winter is as cold as a cold forest. The children shivered in thin shirts, without sandals, still coming to class with blue eyes and a smile.
"Just as long as the students come to class, they are happy. Sometimes I haven't seen a child for a whole week, when I ask, I know that I'm following my mother to the fields, some of them are cut off by the water of the stream, and can't be moved. Some children simply... don't like to go to school. We still have to go to each house to mobilize, regardless of the sun or rain" - Mr. Hoan shared.
The journey to sow words
Principal Nguyen Ngoc Phuong said that Thuong Trach Primary School No. 1 has 253 students, all of whom are children of ethnic minorities. Students study at 5 schools far apart, the roads are muddy, many places do not have bridges, and they cannot go to school during the rainy season.
Many classes have to be interdisciplinary. There are classes of only 4 students. Some places have borrowed old rooms from the Border Guard as classrooms. We lack functional rooms, libraries, playgrounds, to textbooks, desks and chairs, teaching equipment, Mr. Phuong choked up.
Amidst countless difficulties, the team of 29 teachers still stick to the school and village. They took out their salary to buy books, warm clothes, and candy for students. Some teachers make their own uniforms, and some teachers have to carry students across the stream on rainy days to keep the goalkeeper. For lunch at school, teachers and students divide the instant noodles, then teach in the afternoon.
"When there is a volunteer group coming to give books, warm clothes or candy, the whole school is like a festival. Children cheered, while teachers secretly watched them wip their tears. Those were the moments that motivated us to stay here, Mr. Hoan said emotionally.
Without a big library or air-conditioned room, what teachers wish for is simply: a school roof with enough classrooms, enough tables, chairs, enough light for students to sit and study without the sun splashing on their faces or rain splashing on their books. A playground with fences, a few swings, and slides, so that children know the joy of childhood is not just in the fields.
"We just hope to have more hearts turned to the Venerable, so that the children here can study in better conditions, have fun, be taught life skills, and speak more Vietnamese. We will try our best to fulfill the mission assigned by the Party and the people" - Mr. Hoan said, looking at the children playing on the red soil covered with rainwater.
