VietNamNet Bridge - “Growing maize and cassava plants in mountainous
areas takes a lot of effort, not to mention teaching. In the Vang Ma Chai area,
teaching is as difficult as flying to the sky, but with the teachers’
extraordinary energy, education has taken root and developed.”
These words spoken by Tan My Khe, Deputy Director of the Education and
Training Department of Lai Chau Province, urged us to visit Vang Ma Chai which
is known as “the gate of heaven”.
It took us two days to walk through deep valleys and climb up steep
slopes to reach Vang Ma Chai Commune in Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province.
In 1996, teacher Nguyen Van Bien came to this commune to open a pre-school
class. At that time the name “teacher” was unfamiliar to the local people who
thought learning could not grow corn and cassavas. Therefore, they did not want
to listen to Bien’s talk about opening a class.
A month after his arrival, on the commune’s highest hill where the wind
whistled throughout the day, Bien built a classroom with bamboo he took from
the forest. He could not remember how many times he had to rebuild this
temporary classroom because high winds could easily blow it away. The local
people called Bien’s classroom the 14th slope because to reach Vang Ma Chai
they had to go over 13 slopes winding through the mountains.
Vang Ma Chai Nursery School has 15 teachers and cadres who are assigned
to work in eight hamlets of the commune. In the school-year 2011-2012, the
school has 96 pupils of school age. For five consecutive years, it has been
rated as the best school in achieving compulsory preschool education by the
Department of Education and Training of Lai Chau Province.
After the classroom was built, Bien began the difficult problem of
persuading the local people to allow their children to go to his class. He
attended every meeting of the commune and hamlets to convince the people. He
also went to the hamlets’ chief to ask for help. Bien’s 10 years of persistence
persuaded the villagers in Vang Ma Chai to understand and voluntarily take
their children to his classroom to learn. Now, pre-school classes have been
established in eight areas in the commune although the facilities are still
poor. Education has taken roots and developed.
To learn more about the children studying in Vang Ma Chai, we followed
teacher Pham Thi Thu to visit her preschool class in Sin Chai Hamlet. It took
us half a day to get through the forests to the hamlet. Thu said: “Over 60% of
the households in Sin Chai are poor. Sometimes they don’t have enough food but
the preschool class is never without pupils.”
Thu’s class has 16 pupils who call her “mother”. Vang Thi Sua, a
6-year-old girl said: “Mother Thu teaches me reading, writing and sewing. When
I am hungry she gives me cakes and candy. She also comes to my house to help me
fetch water from the foot of the mountain.”
We met Sua’s father, Vang Chang Su when he came to the class to take
her home. He confided: “The older generation of the Mong people like me
received no education, so we could not go beyond Vang Ma Chai. However many
difficulties we suffer, we must provide the children an education to help them
go to the district or city to continue their studies at college and
university.”
Story about the
teachers in the hamlets
People in the northwestern area often talk about the difficulties
suffered by the border guards and people who came from the plain areas to the
mountain areas to work. Indeed, no other teachers have to cope with so many
difficulties like the teachers in Vang Ma Chai.
Most of the hamlets in this commune are far from the central area. It
takes people a day’s walk to go to the hamlets because there is no road. That
may be the reason why many teachers working in these hamlets missed opportunities
to get married due to pursuing their teaching career. That was the case of
Nguyen Van Bien, the first teacher who came to Vang Chai Chai to open a
preschool class. For many years he was absorbed in convincing the villagers to
build a classroom for the children and forgot about his youth. When he retired
he remained unmarried. He returned to his family home in Phu Tho and lived with
his relatives. Even now, the teachers of different generations in Lai Chau
still talk about Bien with both respect and sympathy.
Despite all these difficulties, because of their love for teaching, the
teachers are determined to stay in the hamlets to contribute to the support of
education in difficult areas. Most of the preschool teachers in Vang Ma Chai
are aware that preschool learning helps children get familiar with school and
facilitates their higher learning. If the children dislike studying, the risk
that they will drop out of school at a higher educational level will be very
high.
Preschool teacher Bui Thi Yen in Ta Phung Hamlet has worked in Vang Ma
Chai for over four years. According to regulations, after three years she was
assigned to teach in another commune which was nearer to the district, but she
volunteered to stay in Vang Ma Chai. She said: “I know that working closer to
the district would have made it easier to get married but in Ta Phung Hamlet I
have 40 pre-school pupils who call me mother. I missed them very much while I
was on leave to visit my native village for only a few days. Life in every mountainous
area is hard, so I consider the pupils in the hamlet my large family.”
Bidding farewell to us, Chao Phu Hin, Chairman of Vang Ma Chai Commune
said: “Even if we face hunger we will never let our children ‘hunger’ for
education.” His pledge warmed out hearts. He not only knows the importance of
education for children in the commune, but also understands the devotion and
difficulties of the teachers who left their native places for the hamlets to
teach the children.
Vang Ma Chai is a border commune with special difficulties in Lai Chau
Province. It is situated in the highest mountainous area compared with other
northern border communes. It is home to three ethnic groups: the Mong, Dao and
Ha Nhi.
It is very difficult to provide education for children in the
mountains.
A simple classroom at the peak of a mountain.
Children go home together after class is over.
A night class in Vang Ma Chai.
Teaching the pupils how to write.
A difficult life does not discourage a thirst for learning of the
children.
The joy of learning shows on the face of a child in the mountains.
A nursery school class in Vang Ma Chai.
For the cause of education in the mountains, the teachers in the
hamlets
have to endure many hardships.
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