Teachers at remote mountainous school find love
Road to school for students in remote mountain areas

55-year-old Pham Van Trieu has been the only teacher working at Bui Hui school branch for the last 11 years. — Photo baoquangngai.vn

However, for 55-year-old Pham Van Trieu, his daily routine is as lonely as it gets.

He is the only teacher at Bui Hui Primary School, and he has a classroom of just eight students who rely on him for an education.

Some in his shoes may have quit, called it a day and moved on to job at a different school. Not Trieu.

“When I think about the children who were born in these remote disadvantaged areas, I don’t want to stop my job,” he said.

Bui Hui is part of Ba Trang Primary and Secondary Boarding School in Ba Trang Commune, Ba To District – a mountainous area in the central province of Quang Ngai.

Trieu’s home is in Ba Cung Commune. It may only be 30km away from the school, but because of the lack of roads, the journey is tough to make.

As a result, the classroom is his home – he rarely gets to see his wife, children and grandchildren and he often finds himself cut off from the outside world.

“When I think about my wife and family, I feel lonely,” he told Quảng Ngãi online newspaper. “There is no electricity, no television and limited phone connection here.”

The lack of resources makes for a difficult time teaching.

With no lighting, he must make use of the limited sunlight afforded to this region to teach. If the school needs water, it means a one kilometre hike to the nearest stream. His kitchen is in a makeshift tent provided by generous locals and as for his bed, that’s just four tables pushed together.

Food is limited too with Trieu living on rice, fish sauce and noodles. When the food runs out, he must travel 30km to his home through forests and across rugged landscapes to stock up.
Sometimes because of bad weather and floods, he must live off the land, foraging in the forests to find food to survive as the journey home is treacherous at best.

But despite all these issues, Trieu wouldn’t change his profession. He knows the service he provides is crucial for the handful of children he teaches.

This year, he is teaching three six-year-olds and five seven-year-olds split into two classes with different curricula.

“Teaching two classes in the same room, the board is divided into two and I have to play the role of two people,” Trieu said.

In his class, the board is divided into two: one side for a Vietnamese lesson for second graders, the other for a math lesson for the first graders. — Photo baoquangngai.vn

The young students are from the H’Rê ethnic group and speak their own language. Trieu’s job is to teach them Vietnamese so that in later life, the students will be given better opportunities.

He has been teaching for almost 35 years, and working in remote locations is nothing new. In his first job it would take him a whole day to get to the school.

“Thirty years ago, it took me a whole day to travel from my home to the village. There was no road at that time. I had to cross through a forest and over streams,” he said.

“Son Ba, Son Cao, Son Lien, Son Thuong and Son Thuy are among the remote villages where I have been and worked. Only people who have been will know exactly how hard they are to get to.”

So today’s job is nothing new for Trieu, who accepts this is the life he has chosen and a life, despite all the challenges, he finds rewarding.

“I love the children,” he said. “They don’t have enough to eat and they don’t have many clothes, but they want to be in school. They want to learn.”

Nguyen Minh Hai, principal of Ba Trang Primary and Secondary Boarding School, said colleagues and local residents appreciated Trieu’s enthusiasm.

“Trieu is a good example for us to follow and he has an inspired passion for teaching generations of students in the remote disadvantaged areas,” Hai said.

Pham Thi Y, a student of Trieu, said she wants to become a doctor and that she would try to study as hard as Trieu told her so that the dream would come true.

It's comments like these that give Trieu the inspiration he needs to do what he does.

His life may be lonely, his existence isolated, but when he sees students smile and enjoy learning, there is nowhere else he would rather be. He feels right at home.

VNS