Teacher Nay Khon in the classroom that was re-decorated by him and his students. (Photo: VNA)

Gia Lai - An ethnic teacher in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai finds many ways to encourage poor ethnic students to overcome difficulties to pursue studying.

Born in a poor village, Nay Khon – a Jrai ethnic man of Chu Gu commune in Krong Pa District overcame difficulties trying to study with a desire to return to teach the ethnic children in his hometown.

Understanding the difficulties of the ethnic students, since graduating from school to teaching until now, Khon has helped many poor students pursue their studies.

In 1995, Khon graduated from a three-year training course of pedagogy at Gia Lai Pedagogy College and then was assigned to work at a number of elementary schools in difficult areas of Krong Pa district.

In the 2022-23 school year, he was transferred to teach at a school in the Ia Jip ethnic hamlet, 24km from the centre of Krong Pa district.

Since the school was built in 2002, the classrooms had degraded.

Responding to the movement of building green, clean, beautiful and safe classrooms launched by the school’s principal, Khon determined to re-design the classrooms with his students.

The moldy, dirty walls were cleverly covered by wallpaper. The teacher also encouraged students to bring branches of wild orchids, flowers and plants to decorate and create natural corners in the classrooms and the school's balconies.

In the dry season, he also instructs students to bring water bottles from home to take care of the plants.

Thanks to the perseverance of the teacher and students, anyone who visits the school is surprised and admires Khon and his students’ efforts to build a green, clean, beautiful and safe school.

In addition, in an effort to maintain the number of students in class, Khon often goes to remote hamlets to persuade parents to send their children to school regularly.

Understanding the difficulties of his students who have to help their parents earn more income and put studying on hold, the teacher braved the sun and the rain, wading through the forest to find and mobilise students to come to class regularly.

Ksor H'Met, a student who stayed in the same grade for two years in a row because she often missed school to help her parents work in the fields, said that her family struggled with many brothers and sisters. Although her parents work hard in the field, they could not afford to support their children.

She has to drop out of school to herd goats and earn more money for her family.

Knowing that, Nay Khon deducted his salary and supported H'Met and her sisters in daily life as well as with studying.

Regularly, after the morning class, the teacher cooks lunch at the school’s kitchen for H'Met and her sisters and some other poor students so that they can attend classes in the afternoon.

In order to help poor students have enough school supplies, every summer, the teacher asks sponsors to provide school supplies and books for students at Ia Jip school.

In the school year 2022-23, the teacher received four used bicycles and then repaired gave them to his students.

In addition, he also used his own salary to buy three sets of new clothes, two pairs of slippers, two briefcases and school supplies for disadvantaged students in his class.

To attract students to read books daily and have a habit of reading books, Khon decorated a corner of the classroom as a library and organised a reading club in class.

Specifically, he pided the students into reading groups with each group of four to six students. The students helped each other to improve their reading skill. Every Friday, the group leaders reported on their group's performance.

Thanks to the activity, the reading skill and literary of his students improved dramatically, which is highly appreciated by the school’s principal, and is followed by other teachers.

Daon Thi Thuy, principal of Tran Quoc Tuan School, said Khon is a dedicated teacher.

With strong effort and empathy with poor students, he had maintained the number of students in class for many years, Thuy said.

His students won one second prize and one consolation prize in a contest of Vietnamese language at the school.

Financial supporting poor students helped many students pursue their studies.

"As a teacher of ethnic groups, teaching at a remote and difficult school site, Khon's deeds are worthy of praise, commendation, and to be spread throughout the education sector,” said Thuy.