Echoes of the school opening season…

There is a season that does not originate from the weather but originates from an extremely meaningful activity in human life. That is the school opening season. Surely that is why this is the season that is remembered the most by many people at the same time, given the most special attention to remember and miss…

One autumn morning, passing through a mountain village, I suddenly felt a little moved when I heard the drumbeat of the team's ceremonial drum from the small school. Perhaps the team members were practicing to prepare for the upcoming school opening day. The sound of a childhood, probably decades ago, today returned so overwhelmingly in my heart. And so many memories of the school opening season returned, wistfully, wistfully...

One of the pages of old school books. Photo from the internet

I still remember my first school morning. It was a very mild autumn morning, I didn’t have many thoughts at that time, I just knew that I was going to a place far away from home to go to school. My mother took me on an old bicycle, down a dirt road of more than 3 km to a school built with red brick walls deep in the neighboring village. At that time, all the children in my apartment complex went to school that way. And all of them stayed without the company of their relatives because their parents were busy working.

Back-to-school season makes many people tear up remembering their youth. Photo from internet

We were greeted by village teachers with gray hair. When the school opening drum sounded, the cries for their mothers of some students suddenly became smaller and gradually stopped in sobs. In the school yard at that time, there was a flagpole made of a large bamboo tree. The bamboo tree was dark brown and had many large cracks, but the flag was very new. I don't remember many details anymore, but I still remember clearly that at that time, I stood there admiring the image of the red flag fluttering while the seniors sang the National Anthem. My immature soul at that time didn't have many associations, but thinking back now, I am sure that I clearly knew how to love my Fatherland from that moment.

Later, when I grew up, I sang the National Anthem under the bright red flag many times on special occasions such as the admission ceremony to the Youth Union and Party organizations or with friends from all over the country performing the flag-raising ceremony on the deck of the ship following the Ho Chi Minh trail at sea. Every occasion was sacred and touching, but I never had the pure and complete emotions of the flag-raising ceremony on the first day of school in my life again.

Image of the flag-raising ceremony in the old opening ceremony. Photo from the internet

A week ago, many boys and girls happily followed their parents to school, starting “week 0” of a new learning period. This is an innovative activity of the education sector for first graders, helping them feel less bewildered when coming to a new school. Although it was just a back-to-school activity, teachers still organized it with full rituals, no different from an opening ceremony. Therefore, in the schoolyard, there were also all the emotions of the first day of school.

On the first day of school, first graders also have all the emotions of the first day of school.

It was the tears of the teachers welcoming the new batch of innocent students; the anxiety rising in the eyes and faces of the fathers and mothers taking their children to school for the first time; the innocent eyes and the bewildered, somewhat fearful tears of the little students. I guess that, at that moment, both the teachers and the parents remembered their first day of school. And I am also sure that the memories of this first day of school will remain forever in the memories of the first graders, just like me back then.

The memories of this first day of school will also remain forever in the memories of first grade boys and girls.

The opening season is not only the excitement of students, the anxiety of parents but also the immense feelings of teachers. Starting a new school year, although in different regions, teachers share the same expectation. They all have their own preparations to welcome new students, to continue the journey of "rowing the boat" with the old students. And some people meticulously choose to buy for themselves beautiful school bags and notebooks; others look for more good books to enrich their lessons; others choose to beautifully decorate the board on the first day of class...

Especially the first grade teachers, they are also full of excitement and anxiety when receiving the task of guiding a new generation of students. How to look at them, how to hold their hands, what to say to them… things that seem to be repeated over and over again for many years but still feel so new today… Therefore, the sound of the opening drum is very special to them, it is truly a crisp sound, the beginning of a new journey that requires a lot of passion and intelligence…

Many teachers welcome the new school year by beautifully decorating the boards in the schoolyard and in the classroom.

Every school opening season, when I hold my daughter's little hand and walk through the school gate filled with flowers and leaves, when the school drum beats in my heart, creating a nervous beat, I remember my first days of school.

I grew up with lessons about the country, about love for the Fatherland in the stories of my grandmother and my parents and thoroughly understood those lessons, developing them into my own awareness, responsibility, and aspiration through the guidance of my teachers. Many generations of students have also grown up through that journey; their dreams have been nurtured and their aspirations to build and develop the country have been ignited by the bustling sound of the school opening drum, by the solemn sound of the National Anthem resounding under the national flag, by the lectures of teachers...

September has come and the new school year opens up with so many emotions, so many ideals, so many ambitions... The cool breeze of autumn is sowing so much confidence in people's hearts... And generations of students are waiting to hear the sound of the school opening drum, to officially begin a new journey with the aspirations of the times...

Phong Linh

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/nui-hong-song-la/am-vang-mua-khai-/253755.htm