In 2023, an open letter asking to exchange flowers and cakes on November 20 for money to buy health insurance cards for 89 disadvantaged students by Mr. Dinh Phu Cuong, Principal of Nguyen Van Luong Secondary School, caused a stir and created an effect in public opinion. This year, the school did not ask but... the money still came.

On November 20, Dan Tri reporter had an interview with Mr. Dinh Phu Cuong about the story of the principal "taking other people's money" to take care of students.

"Holding other people's money is so much pressure!"

- Where did your idea of ​​"exchanging flowers and gifts on November 20th for health insurance for students" come from?

My school is located in a difficult area, with many Chinese children who are hesitant about buying health insurance. Every year, my teachers and I pool our money to buy health insurance for poor students, but our resources are limited, and we can only collect a dozen cards at most.

I look back and see that every November 20th, the school is filled with flowers and cakes sent by parents. There was a year when there were 7-8 cakes on my desk, the cakes were so big that they filled the whole table.

I asked the teachers, janitors, and security guards to eat it for me and take it home for me, but everyone shook their heads, "It's too fat, teacher." I calculated that a cake like that cost several million dong and I didn't use it. Same with the flowers, more than a dozen flower arrangements that I had to ask someone to clean up the next day.

Looking at that scene, I wondered how I could let such a waste happen when my students didn't even have a health insurance card.

I met with the teachers at the school and proposed the idea of ​​exchanging flowers and gifts on November 20th for health insurance cards for students. We had to do something so that parents would not feel guilty about the gifts they gave and would sympathize with the school. When the open letter was born, I did not expect it to spread so widely.

I am happy that this not only spread in my school but also in some other schools "asking for gifts" towards truly caring for students.

This year, I did not ask for anything. I sent an internal letter to inform the school not to organize any form of gift giving, flower giving, or team party. And the school also asked permission not to accept flowers or congratulatory gifts from the parent-teacher association.

But the echo of last year's "asking for health insurance cards" seems to have become a new tradition at the school. Since the beginning of the year, many parents have given the school health insurance cards for their students, with a total amount of 120 million VND so far.

- When you wrote an open letter asking to exchange flowers and gifts for money to buy health insurance cards for students, did you face pressure?

I was so worried! Before writing the letter, I was worried because I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was right or not. When this spread and was supported, I felt even more pressured. Holding other people’s money was so stressful, I was worried that if I used it wrongly, I would be guilty to my parents. I was so worried that I couldn’t sleep for a whole week.

Then, I decide how much parents give, who to spend it on, what to spend it on, I post it all on the school website, make it public to the press, send a report to the District People's Committee so that parents, teachers in the school, and society can all know and monitor it together.

In 2023, after buying health insurance cards for students, I still had more than 100 million VND left. I immediately thought, "It's not good for the school to keep this remaining amount." I called the donors and asked for permission to use the remaining amount to give to poor students. Last Tet, 101 disadvantaged students of the school received 1 million VND each from this amount.

- On one side are struggling students who need support and on the other side is the pressure of "taking other people's money". How can school managers overcome this to dare to think and dare to do?

Just by heart, there is no other way! If you calculate the pros and cons, put them on the scale and do so, you will not gain anything but also have a bad reputation, then you will be afraid, will be shy and do not want to get involved in the work. When the manager does not want to get involved in the work, it is very difficult to have change.

- When mentioning Nguyen Van Luong Secondary School now, many people immediately think of the image of "exchanging flowers and gifts for health insurance cards". We think of the students, but what about the feelings of the teacher?

Many teachers told me that if this day wasn't so noisy, they would feel less pressured and less stressed. When I suggested "exchanging gifts", the teachers were very happy because their school had done something meaningful and humane on Vietnamese Teachers' Day. Without the teachers' support, I couldn't have done it.

Many teachers go out and say they are working at the school and the person opposite immediately brings up the story of the school asking to exchange gifts.

"Teachers focus on teaching, money is the principal's business"

- It is known that for many years, Nguyen Van Luong Secondary School has not had a parent fund?

For exactly 8 years now, the school has not collected funds from parents, nor has it collected sponsorship funds. The school does not have a class parent fund, nor a school parent fund. Activities for students are still guaranteed within the school's financial budget from the permitted collections.

Parents of Nguyen Van Luong Secondary School come to the school to provide legal and health advice to students and teachers (Photo: D.C).

When they learned this, some members of the Parents' Association reacted: "If you don't collect money, then why elect us to the representative board?"

- Your answer is…?

I told the parents that the Parents' Council is very necessary and has a lot of work to do. Say no to money, the school Parents' Council operates very effectively, especially in terms of contributions according to one's ability and profession.

Parents who are lawyers, we invite to schools to provide legal advice to teachers and students; parents who are police officers will help students make citizen identification cards... A few days ago, parents who are doctors organized a nutrition consultation session for students.

Parents support, cost no money but useful and effective. This is the greatest contribution of the Parents' Association.

As for material contributions, parents are very wise. They will see how the school works to know whether the school is truly for the students or not.

Some parents have donated thousands of notebooks to the school as rewards for their students. They don’t mind giving them as much as they want, but if you ask them to pay 100,000-200,000 VND, they will refuse. Last year, there was also a case of an anonymous donor giving the school 60 million VND to buy health insurance cards for students.

- By saying "no" to parent funds, do you feel like you're going against the flow?

I read carefully Circular 55 of the Ministry of Education and Training and found that the nature of the Parents' Fund is to serve the administrative activities of the Parents' Council, and all student activities in the school must come from the school's resources. Therefore, the school does not need to have a parents' fund.

Furthermore, I am very disgusted and extremely annoyed by the image of parents having to pay several hundred thousand to attend parent-teacher conferences. Then when teachers come to class and have to "pay money", the image in the eyes of parents and students is also very different. It is not beautiful! It is very painful!

What to do when parents come to the meeting to discuss professional work and moral education for students.

I told my teacher: "Teach properly in class, help me. Money is the principal's business."

Teachers do not have to touch any money. 100% of the school's tuition is collected online through the administrative department, teachers do not touch the school's money. Thanks to that, the teacher-student relationship is maintained with respect.

- Talking about beautiful images of teacher-student relationships, which story about students left the most impression on you?

That time, I went to Binh Dan hospital for a check-up. While I was waiting in line for my turn, a female doctor greeted me and asked: "Doctor, do you still remember me?". I looked up, smiled and shook my head...

The student recalled that she was a student from a difficult situation, studying with the teacher at Hau Giang semi-public school, the teacher paid her tuition. Later, she received a scholarship, studied abroad in the US and became a doctor.

Another case was a student who, when he entered 6th grade that year, suddenly became dim. The mother went to school and withdrew her child's application to drop out because she could not bear the burden and was raising 3 children on her own.

I told the teacher that we had to do everything we could to keep the child in school and to help the mother with her treatment. But the child’s eyes could not be saved…

Luckily, I did not have to stop studying. Later, I studied Braille literature pedagogy and am currently a teacher at Nguyen Dinh Chieu special school.

The teaching profession will go hand in hand with the joys and sorrows of students like that...

- Thank you very much for sharing!