Despite a lot of difficulties, a lot of Vietnamese students still go to school on thorny roads. Local newspapers have reviewed moving stories about the students in 2011.

The poor student and the strange essay

The author of the strange essay was Nguyen Trung Hieu, an 11th grader of the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the gifted in Hanoi. In the composition, Hieu showed his thoughts about money and explained why he both liked and hated money, he appreciates and disliked money, and why he gets broken hearted because of money.

The essay showed the energy and the strong will of the poor student, who still can learn very well. Especially, the boy, who lives in difficult conditions, never keeps deviations in his thoughts about the life. He respects the people, who help his mother and his family, who donate money to help the mother treat her disease. Especially, Hieu well understands that there are many other students, who also have to live in difficult conditions like his.

Just 2000 dong to create the meals with meat

Tran Dang Tuan, General Director of AVG, a media company, has opened a blog, where he persuades people to donate to poor students, “so that their simple meals have meat.”

In the first entry on the blog, the former Deputy General Director of Vietnam National Television, related his trip to the remote commune of Suoi Giang in Van Chan district of Yen Bai province.

Therefore, Tuan witnessed the unlucky lives of 80 primary school and 45 secondary school students. Every student only has two kilos of rice and 5000 dong a week contributed by their parents. Their meals only comprise of rice and vegetables. There, students every day dream of the meals with meat and fish.

According to Tuan, a secondary school student only has 2000 dong for food, while a primary school student only has 1000 dong. Meanwhile, a meal in big cities costs at least 20,000 dong.

Old man carries his grandson to school on his back everyday

Since remote areas are still lacking the bridges which link the two banks of rivers, students still have to cross the rivers and streams every day, or sit on their parents’ or grandparents’ back to school.

Nguyen Chien Su from Bong Lai hamlet said that the image of old men carrying children to school has become so popular in the locality over the last many years. However, despite the big difficulties, no parent or children in the locality have dropped out.

Everyday, tens of students of the Ba Cung Primary School in Ba To district of Quang Ngai School also have to cross the river 2-4 times. However, the school said that no student has given up school.

The teachers, who don’t get pay for teaching

Being a paraplegic, but Cham To HIet in Tan Chau district of Tay Ninh province still has been making every effort to teach Cham minority children in the locality.

Hiet has been working as a teacher for the last 20 years, but he has never heard about the Vietnamese Teachers’ Day November 20.

Meanwhile, there is a teacher who has been helping students review for university entrance exams for the last 20 years – teacher Luong Van Trung. Trung’s students are mostly diligent and poor students, and most of them passed the exams to become useful people to the society.

The tiny energetic student

All the students of the Hue City Science University know Le Hai Trung, the first year student of the Information Technology Faculty. Trung is only one meter high and weights 18 kilos, but his energy is really very big.

Trung has become the student of the school after 12 years at general schools, where he made big efforts and passed the university entrance exams. He is especially very good at natural sciences.

Source: Dat Viet/ VNN