Quang BinhMr. Hoang Van Sau came to Doong village when there was no class here and was almost isolated from the outside world.
In 2010, Pak Sau (then 42 years old, semi-boarding public school for ethnic minorities, Tan Trach Elementary and Middle School, Bo Trach district) volunteered to go to Doong village in Tan Trach commune to open first class.
Ban Doong was founded in the 1990s, located in the core zone of Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park. The village is 40 km from the center of the Tan Trach commune via an asphalt road. However, from the waiting point at Km35 on the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road, teachers have to walk through the forest for more than an hour to arrive. This place is isolated from the outside world when there is no electricity, no phone signal, life is almost self-sufficient.
Students clean the school grounds before leaving for school at a school in Doong village. Photo: Hoang Apple
Pak Sau said that time was difficult. There are almost no teaching and learning conditions, no classrooms, no tables, chairs, books, and no accommodations for teachers. “I have to rely on the people, ask for help from residents for accommodation, a place to teach,” said Pak Sau. Apart from material difficulties, he was also hindered because the village officials did not trust him. I want to teach for three to six months, so that the villagers can see the meaning of this work. Finally opened the first class with six children.
In October 2010, villagers helped him build a temporary school, but before he and his students could study, four days of flooding hit and swept the entire school away.
He went to the plains again to call, thanks to the many volunteer organizations to help villagers and schools. While waiting to rebuild the school, he asked for a tent to be brought from the People’s Committee of the Tan Trach commune to the village, spreading it out for teaching. In winter, the tent is very warm, but the summer heat can’t stand it, so the teachers and students return to the residents’ homes, asking for a corner of the house to study.
There are only six students in the class, but sometimes the kids ask to drop out. At such times, Mr. Sau came to his house to ask and reassure him. “I have neither health nor economy, so I try to help people with my knowledge, going from house to house to show them how to do business, live and develop the economy,” Pak Sau said. Thanks to that spirit, gradually the community believed and sent their children to school.
Teacher Hoang Van Sau in a class session. Photo: Hoang Apple
After the first year, the class only had four students because two of them moved. In the third year, the teacher enrolled more students in grade one with four children. The teacher herself teaches a class of eight students. Classes are open three times a day, morning, afternoon and evening. In the evening, teachers and students use flashlights to study: “Children at home don’t study voluntarily, and their parents can’t draw, so at night they go to class to review”, said Pak Sau.
Six years later, when the first group of students enter high school, Pak Sau is not alone. Currently, three other teachers are assigned to join Mr. Sau to expand the school’s location, teaching at primary and secondary levels.
In the past 12 years, Pak Sau’s school site has been damaged three times, flooding swept away all the facilities and teachers’ personal belongings. In particular, the flood in October 2020 again washed away the entire school. Then, thanks to the local government and philanthropists, the new school site was rebuilt on the highest land in the village, built with a steel frame, a vast two-story corrugated iron fence, the most sturdy ever.
This school year, Doong village school has 4 classes with 17 students. Photo: Hoang Apple
This school year, Doong village school has four classes with 17 students and four teachers. The four classes are spread over two levels with seven levels, including grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, 7, 9. In addition, there are four preschoolers who do not follow the curriculum, but Pak Sau allows them in. class to get used to learning.
The level of students in Doong village is considered to be narrower compared to other places. Ban Doong has two students who won second place at the district level in the field of science and technology creativity, some of whom were included in the team of outstanding students, although they did not achieve high results.
Mr. Vo Hai Quan – Head of the Bo Trach Education and Training Department – shared that he really appreciates the efforts of Pak Sau and the teachers in Doong village in teaching in the village.
Classroom in Doong village. Videos: Hoang Apple
Apart from teaching, every time he goes to the delta, Pak Sau also goes to the market to help the villagers. “The villagers lacked salt, spices and rice, so I bought it and put it in the village to help them. They buy these things themselves, they need a day’s work, plus gas money, the price of MSG packages, double sauce fish,” said Pak Sau. Market money, some paid, some didn’t, Pak Sau didn’t want to ask.
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