Teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang takes a photo with students participating in the English teacher training project for Meo Vac, Ha Giang - Photo: VINH HA
At the moment of transition between the old year and the new year, when every family is busy celebrating Tet, enjoying spring, and traveling, sitting alone in his office at Marie Curie School (Hanoi), teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang still sends messages with many concerns and hopes about the projects he and his colleagues have been and are continuing to support in the difficult area of Meo Vac (Ha Giang).
"I hope for favorable weather, favorable terrain, favorable people and for myself to be healthy enough to complete four projects to help Meo Vac people," Mr. Khang shared his wishes for the first days of the new year.
Four support projects
The four projects that Mr. Khang implemented and invested in support funding are the forest planting project in Khau Vai (Meo Vac); teaching English online to 2,600 students in Meo Vac for three years from grade 3 to grade 5 (primary level); training English teachers for Meo Vac through the method of recruitment and socialization, with about 30 students trained for 4 years and returning to work in this locality.
The fourth project, which was only discussed and agreed upon at the end of January 2024, began construction right after the Lunar New Year: building a school worth 100 billion VND.
As a person who once passionately wanted to take up arms and go to the border to protect the Fatherland, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang has also been involved in education in disadvantaged areas since his youth. He once described the hunger and cold during those deprived days as penetrating to the marrow of his bones.
Perhaps that is also the reason why he is more sympathetic and when he became an educational administrator with financial means, he turned his sympathy into concrete actions.
Not only four projects, but many times teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang responded to the wishes and calls of colleagues and people, willing to spend large sums of money to buy rice for students in difficult areas or support with practical actions.
45 years ago, when I was 30 years old, I wrote a letter asking to join the army because I wanted to hold a gun to protect the northern border. But I was not able to do so because my left eye was damaged and my right eye was severely nearsighted, up to 12 diopters. If I could not use my blood and bones, I would use my sweat and effort to protect the border land.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang
100 billion dong school
During the visit of the leaders of Meo Vac District People's Committee to Hanoi to visit Marie Curie School in November 2023, the idea of investing in building Marie Curie - Meo Vac ethnic boarding school was raised.
In January 2024, Mr. Khang had a meeting with the People's Committee of Meo Vac district about this matter. He also "concluded" that he would fully invest in the construction of facilities and equipment for this school with an estimated cost of about 100 billion VND.
Under the direction of Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang, Marie Curie School Hanoi invited architects to start surveying, designing, preparing construction project documents, and selecting qualified contractors for construction.
The project was officially launched on February 20, 2024, after less than a month of discussion. The school is expected to be completed in January 2026 and handed over to the People's Committee of Meo Vac district to manage and operate as a key public school of the district.
This is a gift that a teacher in Hanoi wants to give back to the people and students in the far North. If everything goes according to schedule, the school can enroll its first class of students in the 2026-2027 school year.
Mr. Ngo Manh Cuong - Vice Chairman of Meo Vac District People's Committee - said that the district leaders and Ha Giang province leaders highly appreciated the support of Marie Curie School Hanoi and Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang personally.
"As a district with many difficulties and shortages, the school that Mr. Xuan Khang gave us is even more meaningful and valuable. It is something that the people of Meo Vac have dreamed of for a long time," Mr. Cuong shared.
"100 billion VND is a huge amount of money, why can you decide so quickly?" - hearing this concern, Mr. Khang just smiled. He did not answer directly but shared another article that he said he really liked and found close to what he was thinking.
The article raises the question "What to do with a lot of money?" and expresses the opinion: In the case of money and assets left to children, if they are talented and ambitious, they do not need to rely on their parents' money to forever escape their parents' shadow. If they are not talented but have little money, it is a disaster.
So if you have money but don't know what to do with it, you should build schools, build hospitals, improve the environment, plant forests, establish scholarship funds, build libraries, museums, sponsor scientific research... What the article mentioned "speaks for itself" for Mr. Xuan Khang's choice.
Teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang plays tug of war with students of MarieCurie School Hanoi - Photo: provided by the school
Planting trees and growing people
In 2021, Marie Curie School Hanoi had three 7th grade students together write a book titled "A piece of forest for you".
The book aims to raise awareness and responsibility of young people in protecting forests and also protecting the living environment. The book is supported by the Center for Natural Resources and Environment Communication to sell books to raise money to contribute to the program of planting 1 million trees to restore upstream forests in Meo Vac in the period of 2021-2025.
Upon learning of this, Mr. Xuan Khang, on behalf of the school, bought 2,000 books to give to students to spread the meaningful message. The message for the new school year 2021-2022 was immediately decided by Mr. Xuan Khang to choose the theme of planting 10,000 trees in Meo Vac.
That was the beginning of the forest planting project initiated by Mr. Xuan Khang. To date, this project has planted 120,000 Sa Moc trees in Khau Vai (Meo Vac). After three years, these trees are 1.2-1.5m tall. The project is preparing for phase 2 of planting 20,000-30,000 Sa Moc trees in 2024.
In the 2022-2023 school year, when third graders first study the 2018 general education program, which requires them to learn English, the entire Meo Vac district will have only one primary school English teacher. The risk of not being able to teach English to third graders that year is imminent.
Knowing the news from the press, teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang proactively contacted Meo Vac district.
He proposed an online form of teaching English to third graders. After surveying and calculating to ensure quality, Mr. Khang decided to recruit new teachers.
Nearly 20 young teachers have been recruited and trained to teach online. Online teaching for 2,600 students has entered its second school year and is expected to continue until these students finish primary school.
Support for English teacher training
Mr. Xuan Khang believes that support is needed to have a more sustainable direction. He raised the issue with Meo Vac district and Ha Giang province leaders about supporting teacher training.
The students are local people studying English pedagogy or English at selected universities. Based on the students’ volunteering and commitment, Mr. Xuan Khang provides financial support for them for four years of study until they graduate and return to Meo Vac to teach.
Total support amount is about 12 billion VND.
Mr. Khang said that there are currently 17 students participating in the project, and in the near future, 13 more students will be recruited. In 2026, there will be students in this category who will graduate and teach in Meo Vac.
One of the first private school founders
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang was one of the first educators to open private schools in Hanoi, at the same time as many other educators such as Mr. Van Nhu Cuong, Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Trong Vinh, Nguyen Tung Lam...
Mr. Khang founded Marie Curie School Hanoi in 1992, 32 years ago. He is the sole investor of this school and served as principal until 2023, before moving to a new position as chairman of the school board.
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