Life is hard, poverty surrounds, worries about food and money are already a daily burden, so the cost of education and books makes parents' shoulders even heavier.

Dream of studying information technology

Ngo Van Trung has just finished 7th grade at Truong Tan Lap Secondary School. Trung's house is in Hamlet 2, Vinh Vien Town, Long My District (Hau Giang Province). Although it is called a house, in fact, the father and his children are staying with their aunt's family (father's sister).

Trung never knew about traveling or going out in the summer. Because he had to worry about food every day, the dream of going to the beach in the summer was too much of a luxury. There were days when Trung always looked pensive in class, sometimes he even fell asleep on the table because he was so tired. Although Trung was a good student in the 7th grade, he was still not sure whether he would be able to go to class next year.

Trung's father - Mr. Ngo Van Mien - has just overcome a cerebral infarction. That terrible disease took away the strength of the 41-year-old man, making him almost unable to work.

Trung has a younger brother in third grade. Previously, his parents had to leave their two children in the countryside and go to work far away from home. But since his father fell ill and had to return to the countryside, the burden of feeding a family of four has fallen on his mother's shoulders. There is food money, medicine for her husband, and the education of her two sons.

Mother worked far away, father lost his ability to work, so after school every day, people often saw Trung Phu catching snails, picking vegetables, and setting nets to improve meals for the father and his three children. The family's difficult situation became even more difficult as the two children grew up every day, the cost of education also increased, and mother's employment decreased, facing the risk of losing her job.

Trung is a good boy, enthusiastic about class activities. When asked about his dream, he said he really likes to study information technology and work with computers. Sometimes when he sees many friends who have their own computers and secretly dream of it, but their families are too poor, he honestly says: "I don't know if my dream can come true!"

The arduous journey to find letters

Three years ago, Chau Thi Kim Thao - a 6A7 student at Hoa Lac Secondary School (Phu Tan District, An Giang Province) - lost her father. Due to difficulties, her mother was forced to decide to let Thao and her brother drop out of school and the three of them moved to Binh Duong to find a way to make a living. For Thao, the sudden news of having to drop out of school was bad news that made her cry a lot. Everything in front of her at that time seemed like an uncertain future.

Coming to Binh Duong, the girl applied for a job as a maid at a coffee shop. She was slim, only a little taller than the table, and had to clean and serve food every day to earn money to help her mother pay for her living expenses. Many times looking out on the street, she saw friends her age in school uniforms, she felt sorry for herself, and tears welled up in her eyes.

One year, two years, but they were so long in Thao's silent childhood memories beside the pile of cups and glasses that you had to clean every day. There was only one desire that always burned in her: to go to school!

Thao took a risk and asked her mother to let her go back to school. Feeling sorry for her daughter, her mother had tears in her eyes. Her brother added: "Please let her go back to school. It's so pitiful to make her quit because she loves studying so much!"

So the girl was able to return to her hometown, go back to school to continue her dream. Homeless, Thao and her grandmother relied on each other in a temporary rented house with an open front and back. Many meals, rice grains and vegetables were also shared by neighbors. But no matter how hard it was, for Thao, going to school was a miracle that lit up hope in her life.

Thao did not have a bicycle, so her classmates came to pick her up and take her home. She did not have any books or uniforms, so the teachers at school immediately supported her. She studied hard, was very serious and tried hard when talking about her future dreams. Not only did she achieve the title of excellent student and top of her class, Kim Thao also won first prize in the district's excellent team leader competition last school year.

She believes that the difficulties ahead can only be overcome by her own efforts and hard work in studying. Thus, Thao's steps on the way to school become more and more steady, more confident in the love and care of many people around her when her dreams are given wings.