Mr. Ho Van Thanh, 45 years old, head of Cat village school and Mr. Ho Xuan Sinh, 44 years old, head of Tria village school, both belong to Huong Son Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Huong Hoa, Quang Tri).

The two teachers have 20 years of teaching experience in a difficult area, with many shortages but full of precious affection from students and parents.

Stick to class and students because of parents' love

In 2005, Mr. Thanh first started teaching at Cat village school. "At that time, there were no roads or electricity, there were few fields, and people did not have enough to eat. I carried rice, fish sauce, books and notebooks along the forest path.

After class, he went into the forest to pick bamboo (a type of forest tree, people in the highlands often boil the inside to eat - NV), went to Khe Mieu stream to catch snails and fish to improve his living conditions. Seeing the hard work of the teacher, the villagers cared about him, gave him vegetables and fish; they gave him 1-2 cans of rice every time there was a flood," said Mr. Thanh about the kindness of the villagers.

Also in the first year in the village, Mr. Thanh had a fever and could not teach. At 5am, dozens of villagers took turns using hammocks to carry him through the forest, and it was not until noon that he reached Highway 9 for treatment. It was that kindness that made him go straight back to class after a week in the hospital because he felt sorry for the children who lacked literacy.

There was a year of heavy rain and floods, the roads were cut off, Mr. Thanh stayed in the village for 2 months, hungry and full, depending on the villagers.

Meanwhile, teacher Ho Xuan Sinh came to Tria village in 2004. "At that time, the school was just a small shack. We taught for a month and then went home to bring food. I was very happy that the villagers cared. They were suffering but they did not let the teachers suffer. Teachers had to have rice to eat," said teacher Sinh.

After 2010, the roads were renovated by the villagers, and teachers could ride motorbikes, but it was still difficult because the forest roads were still slippery and bumpy. Fresh food brought up could only be eaten for one meal, and had to be grilled to store. After 2019, electricity was available, so teachers bought new refrigerators to store fresh food.

Both teachers were assigned to some other villages, to teach in the commune center, but in the end they volunteered to teach in the two difficult villages of Cat and Tria, the two farthest villages of Huong Son commune.

There are two routes to get here, one of which is a 16km long trail through the forest from the commune center, which can only be traveled by motorbike in the dry season. This road has a steep slope on one side and a deep abyss on the other, making it slippery, so no one dares to go there in the rainy season.

The second route was built by a private company to construct a hydroelectric plant in 2020. However, this road to the commune center is 90km long and is also cut off and eroded during the rainy season.

Spiritual support for students in mountainous areas

Cat village school has 65 students, including a combined class of 4 and 5. Tria village school has 2 combined classes of 1-2 and 3-4-5.

After 2 decades, the education of Cat - Tria children has improved, knowledge has developed much more. After finishing primary school, the children go to boarding school at the central school.

100% of the population here are Van Kieu people. They are passionate about education, and only by learning to read and write can they escape poverty. But the vicious cycle of poverty and lack of conditions for further education continues to haunt them. Hundreds of students have been cared for by the two teachers, but so far only Tran Thi Dung has been able to study at a teacher training college. This is the greatest achievement and a source of encouragement for teachers to continue teaching in this area.

"I just hope that the children will try hard to study, have a brighter future, and contribute to the development of the village. From the first day I entered the village, I determined that education was the top priority, sacrificing everything for the children of the highlands," Mr. Thanh confided.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Sam - principal of Huong Son Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities - commented: "The volunteer spirit and heart of the two teachers have helped many generations of students in the village to confidently go to school."

Tet bonus for teachers in remote areas

TTO - Our country is still poor. But looking at cases with losses of tens of thousands of billions of dong, we cannot help but remember the worried faces of teachers in the highlands preparing to return to the lowlands for Tet every year.