Teacher travels more than 70 km every day to "sow knowledge" to students in remote areas

Ms. Trang's day starts at 5am, traveling 36km to her students in Tan Yen - a commune in Region III of Lang Son, and in the afternoon traveling 35km back to her family.

Ms. Trang's day starts at 5am, traveling 36km to her students in Tan Yen - a commune in Region III of Lang Son, and in the afternoon traveling 35km back to her family.

Teacher Nguyen Thu Trang. (Photo: NVCC)

Every day, Ms. Nguyen Thu Trang, a teacher at Tan Yen Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Trang Dinh District, Lang Son Province, wakes up at 5 a.m., travels 36 km to meet her students, and in the afternoon travels another 36 km to return home to her family.

Tan Yen is a commune in Region III, about 36 km from the district center. The road to the school must go through an underground bridge over a stream. Every rainy season, the bridge is flooded, making it very dangerous to travel. The road is steep and winding, and is currently under repair due to deterioration, making travel very difficult.

“But that was much more convenient because before it was just a dirt road, muddy and slippery on rainy days, sometimes I had to leave my motorbike at a local's house to walk to school,” Ms. Trang shared.

The shock of the young teacher

Graduated from the Biology and Geography Pedagogy major at Thai Nguyen University of Education, Ms. Trang said she was very happy when in 2012, she passed the entrance exam to become a career civil servant at Tan Yen Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, both in Trang Dinh district - where she grew up.

“Although we are in the same district but 36 km away from home, I had never been to Tan Yen until I was assigned to work at the school. The muddy, swampy, slippery road seemed to stretch on forever. When I arrived, I was even more shocked by the facilities as the school and classrooms were just makeshift bamboo fences, and the teaching equipment was an old map that had rotted over time,” Ms. Trang shared.

The classroom was made of bamboo and thatch, so in the summer, the sun shone from all sides, making it extremely hot. In the rainy season, the classroom floor was muddy, and teachers and students had to run to avoid the rain to avoid getting wet. In the cold winter, the wind blew through the bamboo cracks, and the students did not have enough warm clothes. Teachers and students huddled together by the wood stove in the middle of the classroom, where the coal smoke was thick and everyone's face was dirty and smudged with smoke. Sometimes, while studying, poisonous snakes crawled into the classroom, scaring teachers and students into running away. Sometimes, storms knocked down the bamboo walls.

The classrooms at Tan Yen school are more spacious today but still have plastic walls, making it extremely hot in the summer. (Photo: NVCC)

Most of the students’ families are poor, and their economy depends mainly on farming, so their attention to their children’s education is limited. Many students have to go to school hungry, so they cannot concentrate on their studies. Many students have to drop out of school due to difficult family circumstances. Ms. Trang travels over mountains and forests to each student’s house to encourage and help them continue their journey.

“After nearly 20 years, the road to school has been paved, the classrooms are more spacious, and teaching equipment is increasingly complete. The economy has improved, parents have paid more attention to their children's education, and attendance rates have increased, so the quality of education is better guaranteed and teachers have less hardship. However, the classrooms are still just plastic walls, and the summer is extremely hot,” Ms. Trang shared.

Multi-talented teacher

Having studied Biology and Geography, Ms. Trang is currently responsible for teaching Biology-related content in Natural Science and Geography-related content in History-Geography. She is also a homeroom teacher, Head of the Secondary School Subject Group, in charge of guiding students in scientific research competitions, participating in universal education work, and being on duty at boarding schools.

Due to the lack of teachers in the locality, in the 2023-2024 school year, Ms. Trang also has to teach inter-school at Bac Ai I Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, which is also a school in Region III. The roads are degraded and travel is extremely difficult...

Ms. Trang and her students grow vegetables, both to improve their lunches and to create a lively visual lesson. (Photo: NVCC)

“Although the assigned tasks have exceeded the standard number of hours, with my love for the school, my class, my love for the students, and my enthusiasm for the profession, I am willing to help your school in the current situation where the education sector is lacking many teachers. I personally feel very happy and honored to have the trust of the school's board of directors, giving me the opportunity to contribute, develop myself and become more mature,” Ms. Trang shared.

She also always strives to innovate and be creative in teaching and learning methods such as applying STEM teaching methods, helping students apply the knowledge they have learned into practice, helping them deepen their knowledge, solve real-life phenomena and apply the knowledge they have learned into their studies and daily life. She boldly organizes outdoor experiential lessons to stimulate students' creativity, helping them become more interested and learn more effectively.

Although the school is located in a commune in Region III with many difficulties and shortages, over the years, Ms. Trang has always accompanied her students to achieve many achievements in scientific research activities. The topics originate from the practical life around them. This school year 2024-2025, Ms. Trang and her students are working on the topic of extracting custard apple seeds to make cockroach killer. The topic was inspired by the fact that boarding students were infected with lice and had to use water boiled with custard apple seeds to wash their hair to kill lice.

“I love teaching because I love students, love their innocent, expressive eyes, want to teach them to grow up, want to nurture their dreams, especially when they are ethnic minority students, have a poor material life and face many difficulties in studying,” Ms. Trang said emotionally./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/co-giao-vuot-hon-70-km-moi-ngay-de-gioi-chu-cho-hoc-tro-vung-kho-post994461.vnp