Minh Chuan Primary and Secondary School is located on the banks of the Chay River, in Khau Nang village, Minh Chuan commune, Luc Yen district, Yen Bai province. The school has 3 levels of education from kindergarten to secondary school. Ms. Hoang Minh Diep is a kindergarten teacher here. Ms. Diep's house is opposite the school gate. Therefore, during the days of heavy rain and floods caused by super typhoon Yagi, Ms. Diep was one of the first people to update the school's situation.

Returning home after the floodwaters had receded, Ms. Diep ran to the school, looking at the tables, chairs, and books that had been swept away, and felt heartbroken. She and some other residents and teachers took advantage of the time to clean up their house and the school while the water had not completely receded to push some of the thigh-deep mud out of the classrooms. During a break to eat a pack of raw instant noodles, Ms. Diep was photographed by a colleague with her phone. Her colleague also took photos of many other people, recording memorable moments and posting them on the school's fanpage. For the past few days, Minh Chuan has had no electricity or water, and the phone signal has been unstable, so Ms. Diep had no idea that a series of photos from Minh Chuan School, including a portrait of herself, were being shared all over social media.

The photo was without makeup or posing, her whole body was covered in mud, her feet were still standing in the mud, surrounded by a scene of devastation, but the strong, healthy appearance and optimistic demeanor of the female teacher moved everyone. They called it the resilient beauty of the people's teacher. Reading the compliments for herself, Ms. Diep was very happy but also embarrassed by the praise.

"We are doing normal work like any other teachers and people in this situation. Luckily, all teachers and students of the school are safe. That is the greatest joy. Any difficulties can be overcome," Ms. Diep shared. Ms. Diep has been working at Minh Chuan School since 2019 and is an excellent teacher at the district level. When talking to Dan Tri reporter over the phone, Ms. Diep was going to another kindergarten in Luc Yen to support her colleagues in cleaning up the school after the flood.

Mr. Dung, Ms. Diep's husband, added that she had hardly been home in the past few days. Meanwhile, her house had not been cleaned up yet. On September 9-11, Khau Nang village was severely flooded, a flood that Ms. Diep said she had never experienced in her life. To cope with the storm and flood that had been predicted in advance, people in the area around Minh Chuan Primary and Secondary School put their belongings up high. But in the end, they had to abandon their belongings and run away because the water was up to the roof, and there was no higher place to put their belongings. Similarly, Minh Chuan School mobilized all teachers, parents, and students to move all tables, chairs, books, televisions, and school supplies to the second floor to avoid the flood. But the flood water rose beyond their imagination. The entire second floor was flooded, leaving teachers and students empty-handed.

Ms. Pham Thi Diu - Vice Principal of the school - shared with Dan Tri that the flood had blown off the roof, swept away tables and chairs, teaching equipment, and completely damaged the electricity and water system. After the flood, a huge amount of alluvial soil buried the entire campus and classrooms. The mud was up to the thighs, and could not be pushed out in time with the water. Now it has dried and stuck, requiring an excavator. The mud in the classrooms had to be treated by spraying water back to soften the mud, then pushed out. The school was flooded, as were the teachers' and students' houses. Ms. Diu's preliminary statistics show that 10 teachers and 170 students had their houses buried by landslides and swept away by floodwaters, of which 36 were severely affected. It has been 4 days, and the cleanup has not been completed. It is expected that students of Minh Chuan School will be able to return to school next Tuesday.

"The school would like to express our gratitude to the hearts and help of people across the country for teachers and students. Basically, we have enough conditions to return to teaching and learning. The local government and people are actively supporting the school to clean up the classrooms," said Ms. Diu. Ms. Diu also added that the school still lacks desks and chairs due to being swept away by the flood, but this can be temporarily fixed.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/co-giao-yen-bai-khong-son-phan-van-dep-kien-cuong-trong-lam-lem-bun-dat-20240915143043300.htm