Teacher teaches swimming for free to hundreds of poor students for 8 years

Every afternoon, after school, Ms. Do Thi Ngoc Quy (physical education teacher at Tra Noc 2 Primary School (Binh Thuy District, Can Tho City) "leads" her students straight from the classroom door to the swimming pool. Her "swimming literacy" class lasts 2 hours each session, and many parents also come to monitor their children's progress.

Over the past eight years, Ms. Quy has helped about 1,500 students learn to swim (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).

After the roll call, warm-up and briefing, the children were given life jackets to get into the pool to start the lesson. Each child was guided by Ms. Quy, who gave them swimming techniques, while laughter and splashing water filled the air.

"Before 2016, every summer, I heard news about children drowning in many places. The West is surrounded by rivers, so I was very worried about the students, so I proposed organizing swimming lessons. I was also very happy that the proposal was immediately supported by the school and parents, and the students were very excited to learn how to swim," Ms. Quy shared.

The school did not have a swimming pool, so Ms. Quy contacted a swimming pool near the school. Once again, luckily, Mr. Duong Quang Vu, the owner of the swimming pool, also supported wholeheartedly, agreeing to exempt tickets for poor students and reduce ticket prices for the remaining students.

With support and a swimming pool, Ms. Quy's swimming class quickly became a place where parents sent their children. Especially parents whose children were in the final year of primary school always looked forward to the day their children would start school.

Ms. Quy wholeheartedly teaches each student (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).

"I teach swimming to children without any compensation. In class, children are not only taught swimming but also necessary skills in water, and skills to save drowning people," said Ms. Quy.

Ms. Quy prioritizes 5th grade students so that they can all learn to swim before moving to the next level. She said that about 80% of the current class can swim.

On average, after only 5 lessons with Ms. Quy, children will be able to swim, and after 10 lessons, they will be able to swim proficiently. Many students who have studied with her have become "little swimmers", winning prizes in swimming competitions.

Mr. Vu - the owner of the swimming pool - shared that in the area there is a swimming teaching service for children with a price of up to 1,500,000 VND. With a large number of students being taught to swim, if she charged for it, it would be a huge amount, however, she still did not worry about this issue.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Loan (40 years old) confided: "Luckily, there is Ms. Quy's free swimming class. Not only does my child learn to swim, but he also has a healthy environment to play after school, so I feel very secure. Poor families like us are very grateful for Ms. Quy's actions," said Ms. Loan.

Parents come to monitor their children's progress after each lesson (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).

Up to now, Ms. Quy has continuously opened swimming classes for primary school students in the district for 8 years. In total, she has taught about 1,500 students how to swim, of which nearly half are disadvantaged students who are taught for free.

With her contributions, in 2022, Ms. Quy was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister "For achievements in education and training from the 2017-2018 school year to 2021-2022, contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland".

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/co-giao-8-nam-day-boi-mien-phi-cho-hang-tram-hoc-tro-ngheo-20240627012755170.htm