Teach children to speak Vietnamese and then learn to read
November is the time when Xa Ho (Tram Tau district, Yen Bai province) begins to enter the days of fog. To reach Sang Pao school, located deep in the middle of the rolling mountains, on rainy days, teachers have to walk for hours because the road is slippery.
Teacher Lo Van Lien - Principal of Xa Ho Commune Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities - said that in the past, the classrooms at this school were simple and shabby, built temporarily with wood or bamboo; better, there were 4 classrooms built with corrugated iron sheets. On days of heavy rain and strong winds, this classroom leaked, the wind blew coldly...
“Since 2022, when the Golden Heart Social Fund invested in building the Sang Pao school with 3 floors and 6 classrooms, teachers and students here have had less hardship. Currently, the schools are continuing to be renovated and upgraded to improve the quality of teaching and learning,” Mr. Lien shared.
With the support policies of the State and the attention of philanthropists, the teaching and learning atmosphere at Sang Pao is now much more vibrant and favorable. 100% of the students are ethnic minority children, but both teachers and students know how to be creative, painting colorful pictures around the classroom.
Teacher Dong Huong Thu was born in 1993 but has 11 years of teaching experience in the mountains. Her husband and children live in Yen Bai City, but she is determined to stay here because she loves the children.
According to Ms. Thu, every weekend, she takes a bus or motorbike for about 3 hours to return to her family, where she has two beautiful and adorable twin girls. During the week, she becomes the mother of hundreds of boarding students at Sang Pao school.
Ms. Thu said: “Most of the Hmong children entering first grade do not know how to speak Vietnamese. The teacher’s task is to help them speak Vietnamese first before thinking about learning to read and write. It is very difficult because of the language barrier. But in terms of daily routine, the children are very obedient, self-disciplined, and very obedient to the sound of the drum.”
"Clouds apart" to school
Mua Thi Co (grade 9, Xa Ho Primary and Secondary Boarding School) studies at school and only goes home to Cu Vai village on weekends (a H'Mong village located on a mountain 1,000 meters above sea level, covered in fog all year round). Co has many years of studying away from home, so she is independent, active and knows how to care and share with those around her.
Each day of Co starts by taking care of the younger students in the same room, mainly from the same Cu Vai village as her, urging them to eat breakfast and go to class. At the end of the day, she and the teachers take care of and guide the younger students with their lessons.
Co shared: "The children will look to me as an example, so I also have to do well and study hard for them to follow." Long distance, studying far away, missing home, lacking the warmth of my parents..., all of these could not stop Co's journey to find knowledge.
Usually, on Sunday afternoon, my dad will take me to school, but if there is something at home that I need help with, like planting more vegetable beds for my mom, helping my mom take care of my younger siblings, etc., I will definitely go back to school early Monday morning.
"Autumn and spring are warm, which is normal, but winter is cold and foggy, leaving early in the morning is hard for my father, but I don't want to miss a single class. My dream is to become a police officer" - the 9th grade female student said about the "cloud-clearing" scene every time she goes down the mountain to school.
