This is one of many seemingly strange but all too familiar stories to teachers and parents at the charity class for disabled children at Huong Lan Pagoda (Dong Son Commune, Chuong My District, Hanoi). The class was founded by Ms. Le Thi Hoa, 52 years old, currently a teacher at Dong Son Primary School, Chuong My District, Hanoi. For the past 17 years, every Saturday and Sunday morning, disabled and unlucky students, suffering from diseases such as Down syndrome, autism... have happily come to class.

Originated from a 10m2 kitchen corner classroom

Sharing the reason for establishing this special class, Ms. Hoa said that she was born into a poor family, her father only studied until grade 5, and her mother did not go to school and was illiterate. However, her parents tried to educate all 6 siblings, with the hope that in the future, their children would do useful things for society. Studying pedagogy, after graduating, Ms. Hoa was assigned to work at Truong Yen Primary School. The first class she took charge of had 9 students, all 9 of whom were disabled. After 3 years of teaching, Ms. Hoa got married and transferred to Dong Son Primary School. Because she only taught in the morning, she had a lot of free time in the afternoon, so in 1997 she started tutoring for free two disabled students at her old school and some other less fortunate students near her house in her family's kitchen of about 10 square ^meters . At that time, the board was on the ground, and the chalk was on red tiles. "After I taught for a while, the children's parents discovered that their children could read, eat, and invite each other to dinner. When they asked who taught them, they said Ms. Hoa. People told each other and came to ask for their children to study. At one point, the class in the small kitchen had more than 14 students. In 2007, while going to the temple, I saw that the temple's living room was not in use, so I offered to borrow it and received approval. Since then, the class has officially opened at the temple. The class has been running for 17 years now, and currently there are about 92 students registered, most of whom are disabled."

"The first year I taught at the temple, when I went to persuade parents to let the children come to class, many people said that I must be crazy, possessed by a spirit, that the parents of the children couldn't even teach them, so how could the teacher manage them?... But in reality, when they came here, the children had the same circumstances and disabilities, they loved and respected each other, and during recess they hung around the teacher. The children came here not only to learn to read and write, but also to learn communication skills, personal hygiene, and to feel more comfortable," said Ms. Hoa.

There is no way but love

At 7:00 a.m., the back yard of Huong Lan Pagoda was filled with laughter and greetings: "Hello, beautiful Ms. Hoa", "Have you said hello to the teacher yet, Thai?", "Why was this student absent yesterday?", some students ran straight to hug the teacher as if they had not seen each other for a long time. By about 7:30 a.m., more than 30 students had arrived at the classroom, and the teachers and students began to settle into their teaching and learning positions. Ms. Hoa divided the special class into two groups, half of whom were students who could not read and studied the first grade curriculum, and the other half were students who could write and do math from grades 3 to 5. To motivate the students to study, she gave them points every day after they finished doing math or practicing writing. Based on the students' abilities, she would move them up to the appropriate grade level. According to Ms. Hoa, in this class there were no lesson plans, nor any teaching methods other than love and patience. "Today I teach, tomorrow they forget. Some students take 5 years to learn a song, or Chung has been with me since the very first day, and after more than 17 years he still can't read, he only knows how to write and writes very beautifully. Some students lost control and bit the teacher's hand until it bled," said Ms. Hoa.

Similarly, teacher Tran Thi Thoa, 71 years old, has been with this special class for about 17 years. She said that she has witnessed students screaming while studying many times. Her most memorable memory is when she called a student to the board to read a lesson, but because the student could not control his temper, he punched the teacher in the stomach. "When I was punched by a student, even though I just wanted to hold my stomach and cry, I had to quickly hug and comfort the student. In 17 years of teaching the class, the happiest thing is to see many children know how to read, write, and do math. When teaching the children, I always tell myself to persevere and try hard. If I get discouraged, I won't be able to do the job," said Ms. Thoa.

Sitting outside the classroom waiting for his son, Mr. Nguyen Anh, 47 years old, Xuan Tien commune, Chuong My district, said that his son is Nguyen Anh Thai, this year 17 years old. He said that when Thai was about 4 years old, his family discovered that he had autism and mental retardation. Since 7th grade, Thai stopped going to school so as not to affect the studies of his classmates. In order for his son to integrate with his friends and feel comfortable mentally, when he learned about the charity class at the pagoda, he has persistently driven his son 10km from home to class for the past 5 years, waited until the end of class and then drove his son back. "Previously, Thai did not like crowded places, liked to play alone, and did not like noise. However, when he went to class, he learned less knowledge and interacted with his friends more, his spirit was more stable. One day, his parents joked that Thai was not good today, so they let him stay home and he wanted to go to school. There were days when it rained heavily and the teachers let him stay home but he did not believe it, his father had to come to the place to let him see, only then did he agree to go home. When I see my child's progress, I am very happy," said Mr. Nguyen Anh.

Some pictures at the special charity class: