Struggling to stick to school, stick to the village
Ms. Tran Thi Thu Phuong (35 years old) - a 5-year-old teacher stopped singing with her children in the middle when she saw us asking about the profession.
Ms. Phuong confided that she was born in Huong Khe town (old), and grew up studying at Hanoi Pedagogical College. After graduating in 2011, she returned to her hometown to teach at Huong Lien Kindergarten, about 30km from her home.
"In my early years as a contract teacher, I only received 500 thousand VND per month in salary, and together with the Commune People's Committee's support, I received an additional 200,000 VND, which is 700,000 VND," Ms. Phuong recalled.
Working away from home, the school is located in the mountains and forests of the swine and does not have a boarding house, so Ms. Phuong asks to stay in the school's Health Department every day, and return home on weekends.
It was not until the end of 2014 that Ms. Phuong's salary increased to 3.5 million VND/month. With a small salary, her life is very difficult and lacking, sometimes Ms. Phuong is also depressed, and has intended to change jobs.
However, the more she teaches, the more she loves and loves the children in the highlands, so she stays with them and cannot help but stop. After 5 years of teaching at a central school, Ms. Phuong voluntarily applied to teach at a branch in Rao Tre village, where dozens of Chu ethnic households live.
"The location of the school in Rao Tre village when I moved there was very difficult. The Chu ethnic group is still poor, backward, and has not paid attention to their children's education. Many days, from early morning, we have to go to the house to wake the children up, wash their faces, change clothes and take them to school. Many students cried and refused to go, so she had to spend money to buy candy and sticky rice to last and follow her, Ms. Phuong recalled.
According to Ms. Phuong, in class, many students have not bathed for a long time, giving off a sweat or cold weather, so she has to set the fire and cook the children's shower water, after bathing, she also washes and drops clothes for the children at school...
As the older generation, Ms. Dinh Thi Nhiem (55 years old) - Vice Principal of Huong Lien Kindergarten has gone through countless difficulties. Ms. Nhiem was born and raised in Huong Lien commune (old), after attending elementary school in Nghe An, graduated, in 1988 she returned to her hometown to teach.
"When I graduated, I went home to teach, at that time there were no schools or classes but were borrowing private houses to teach. I only receive 15,000 VND per month from the Department of Education for teaching. Due to hardship and lack of resources in all aspects, I had to borrow fields for cultivation and garden, raise livestock to increase my income to have conditions to follow the profession, Ms. Nhiem recalled.
According to Ms. Nhiem, there were still hunger and lack of food during that time, so many families were not interested in children's education. Many days, she had to go to the house to wake the children up and take them to class.
Teaching at a private house for 10 years, in 1998, the classroom was moved to the village hall. It was not until 2004 that the Huong Lien Kindergarten was invested in and built as it is today.
During her teaching period, Ms. Nhiem also took the opportunity to study for her advanced degree. In 2003, she was appointed as Vice Principal. Maintaining a leadership position while still a contract teacher, it was not until 2005 that Ms. Nhiem was admitted to the payroll with a salary of more than 900,000 VND/month.
In 2008, Ms. Nhiem's husband passed away, leaving her with 3 children, the oldest of whom is in grade 11, the youngest is in grade 7.
With a small salary, at that time only over 1 million VND/month to raise 3 children to study, at that time, Ms. Nhiem was extremely difficult and hard-working, but with extraordinary determination, in addition to teaching, she also increased her family's agricultural production, so she overcame it.
Reaping sweet fruits
Thanks to her enthusiasm, love for her job, dedication and responsibility in her work, Ms. Dinh Thi Nhiem has achieved many successes, many years in a row she has been a Emulation Fighter at the grassroots level. With her dedicated contributions, in 2010, Ms. Nhiem received a Commemorative Medal for her educational career.
After more than 20 years as Vice Principal and President of the school's Trade Union, Ms. Nhiem has received many certificates of merit from the Ha Tinh Provincial Federation of Labor and received the Commemorative Medal for the Trade Union career from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.
Ms. Nhiem shared that in the most difficult times, many teachers here have given up their jobs, but she herself is still steadfast in sticking with the career of sowing words. In difficulty, she tried to borrow money to raise her children to study alone. Up to now, she has followed her first child to teach like her mother, the second child also studied pedagogical, the third child studied construction engineering.
After many difficulties, Ms. Nhiem's salary is currently quite high, reaching 17 million VND/month. She said that she was satisfied with what she had contributed and achieved. Currently, she only has a few more years of work left to retire after nearly 40 years of being a pedagogical teacher.
"What I am happy about is that the school has now been invested in, teaching conditions are guaranteed well, especially since 2024 when the Golden Heart Social Charity Fund sponsored the construction of an additional 2-storey building with 4 spacious rooms for the school.
In addition, the awareness of the people here is now high, they have paid more attention to the education of their children. Therefore, mobilizing children to go to school has also been more favorable, the quality of education has also been increasingly improved, Ms. Nhiem shared.
Also from difficulties and hardships with a contract salary of only 500 thousand VND/month on the first day, Ms. Tran Thi Thu Phuong, after nearly 10 years of working, was only allowed to join the payroll in 2020 with an income of 7 million VND/month, currently 11 million VND/month.
loving her job and being young, wanting to feel secure in staying at this school in the highlands for a long time, Ms. Phuong later married a man from Huong Lien commune, near the school. Her husband is a teacher at Huong Lien Primary School. Currently, the income and life of the couple working as teachers in mountainous areas are enough to live on, making the couple satisfied and feel secure in their work.
During her work, Ms. Phuong has also achieved many achievements. In which, he received a Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Education twice, a Certificate of Merit from the National Assembly's Ethnic Committee once, a Certificate of Merit from the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union once, and was awarded many times as an advanced worker, excellent teacher at school, and excellent teacher in the district.
Taking Ms. Nhiem as an example of effort, overcoming difficulties, rising up, and dedicating herself to the cause of education, Ms. Phuong shared that she will continue to strive to teach well, contributing a part of her small efforts in improving the quality of education at this mountainous school, near the border.
Ms. Dinh Thi Thanh Hoa - Principal of Huong Lien Kindergarten said that in recent years, teaching at Huong Lien Kindergarten has been very difficult and arduous because the school is in a mountainous area with a shortage of facilities. However, thanks to dedicated, responsible, and vocational teachers like Ms. Nhiem and Ms. Phuong, the school has overcome difficulties and the quality of teaching has been increasingly improved.
According to Ms. Hoa, Ms. Nhiem and Ms. Phuong's contributions and dedication have been commended and recognized by many levels and sectors. That contributes to creating more motivation for them to continue to be creative, make more efforts, and contribute more to the education career.
