How was Vietnam's first private school born?

"Dare like nothing"

At the discussion session on "The Fire of Education - Turning the Impossible into Possible", teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang, Chairman of the Marie Curie School Board, surprised and moved more than 200 delegates with his experiences and conclusions in the story he told about his journey of more than 50 years in education.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang shares about his journey of opening the first private school

PHOTO: TM

That was in 1988, when the Party's viewpoint and policy encouraged the development of the private economy. During a lunch with Mr. Van Nhu Cuong and some other colleagues, the teachers happily asked each other: "Why don't you ask for permission to establish a private school because this will help create competition and many different advantages in education?". Then Mr. Cuong wrote a letter, Mr. Khang read it, and both of them co-signed it and sent it to the Minister (at that time the Ministry of Education) Pham Minh Hac asking for the establishment of a private school.

Beyond expectations, Minister Pham Minh Hac responded immediately, saying that he welcomed and asked the two teachers to write the project. Having more than 10 years of teaching high school and having some experience, Mr. Khang agreed to write the project to open the school.

Less than a week later, the draft was released. The Ministry of Education and Training also immediately organized a meeting to listen to and "question" the project.

However, because this was unprecedented, the Ministry of Education and Training did not have any regulations on private schools, so the locality did not know how to manage this type of school. Upon receiving the response letter signed by the then Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People's Committee, Ms. Tran Thi Tam Dan, Deputy Minister of Education Nghiem Chuong Chau immediately directed the drafting of temporary regulations on private schools. As the researcher and project developer, Mr. Khang was also invited to consult during the drafting of this regulation.

In March 1989, the Ministry issued a temporary regulation. On June 1, 1989, Luong The Vinh School, the first private school in the North, was established. That was the "stick" for not only Hanoi but also the whole country to establish and manage private schools.

By the early 1990s, dozens of schools of this type had been established nationwide.

As someone who studied in a specialized class and then taught a specialized class, Mr. Khang always cherished the dream of opening a private school for gifted students to gather excellent students. Constantly thinking about a new private school to realize that dream, he once again "locked himself up" for 3 days to start working on a project to establish a school. This time it was the school of his life: Marie Curie Private High School for the Gifted.

On August 29, 1992, the Hanoi People's Committee issued a decision to allow the establishment of Marie Curie Private Secondary and High School, the first school with semi-boarding, boarding, and shuttle buses, attracting excellent students not only in Hanoi but also in other provinces.

From having to rent classrooms and move to several locations, Marie Curie now has a system of spacious and modern schools in the districts of Nam Tu Liem, Ha Dong and Long Bien (Hanoi).

Mr. Khang humorously said: "In addition to "heavenly time, favorable location, and favorable people", thinking of and applying to establish a private school at that time, we also had a bit of "craziness", a bit of "risk-taking".

Strive to be "good leaves"

Recalling the two times he personally wrote the proposal to open a school, teacher Nguyen Xuan Khang is always grateful to those who accompanied him, trusted him, and even criticized him, making it "difficult" by setting strict requirements, so that he could have the "school of his life" as it is today.

With the belief that "in life, it is rare to be able to repay those who have helped you, the only way is to help others", Mr. Khang is willing to spend hundreds of billions of VND on community projects that have touched people's hearts over the past time. Typical examples include the project to raise 22 children who survived the flash flood in Lang Nu; projects to plant forests, build schools, teach English, train teachers... for Meo Vac district (Ha Giang).

Mr. Khang's story inspires not only educators but also students.

PHOTO: TM

In addition to community projects, Mr. Khang also contributed billions of dong to support bridge construction for people in the West through a charity bridge construction team; bought an ambulance to transport people to the hospital for free; sent money to the principal in Dien Bien so that students could have more meals with meat; provided warm blankets, books, and notebooks for students in the highlands; and sent heavy loads of relief goods to people during the flood season...

"Throughout my career as an educator, if I had to name a philosophy of life that I am most passionate about, it would be "being a good leaf". We may start out as "torn leaves", but we need to have a goal in life, striving to escape from our deprived and poor status; to turn from a torn leaf into a "good leaf". Then, we can not only take care of ourselves and those close to us, but also take care of other "torn leaves" in society", the veteran educator shared at the workshop.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/truong-dan-lap-dau-tien-cua-viet-nam-da-ra-doi-nhu-the-nao-185250331181354746.htm