Classes on Spratly Islands

In early April, we joined a trip to Truong Sa (Spratly Islands) and visited schools there where we could meet volunteer teachers.

 

Truong Sa Primary School is quite spacious with sufficient teaching equipment. There are 2 classrooms and a library with hundreds of book titles. There are many outdoor toys such as slides, swings, rockers etc in the playground. When we came, Teacher Dong Minh Hiep born in 1991 in Dien Dien Commune, Dien Khanh District asked his pupils to read a poem out loud for us about the love for the national sea and islands.

 

Teacher Dong Minh Hiep says there are 13 pupils, including 9 primary school-aged kids in the town. Teacher Dong Minh Hiep and teacher Pham Trung Viet from Van Ninh District divide kids into 2 full-day mixed-grade classes, one for grades 1-3 and the other for grades 4 & 5. Sometimes, some 4-year-old kids insist on following the older ones to a primary school. The teachers have to place them in a young-age group. The curricula are designed for each age group. Young children learn how to sing songs, draw and color pictures while the older ones practice handwriting, doing calculations, etc. Teaching for nearly 5 years, Dong Minh Hiep knows clearly the character of each pupil as well as remembers their talent, voice, etc.

 

 

 

Teacher Pham Trung Viet is luckily chosen among hundreds of volunteers to teach on the Spratly Islands. For nearly 5 years working on the islands, he has had unforgettable memories with his beloved pupils. He still remembers the days with power cut when he and his pupils brought desks and benches outside to study because it was so hot; long nights reading and giving scores to his pupils’ exercises in the oil lamp light; home visits to give extra lessons to prepare for exams, and so on.

 

He has been considered as a member in the local residents’ families on the islands. On the Southwest Cay Islands, for 5 years now, teachers named Le Xuan Quyet born in 1990, Le Van Manh born in 1989 have become so close to local residents. After graduating from Nha Trang Teachers’ Training College, Le Xuan Quyet worked at a primary school in Van Ninh District. In 2013, he registered to teach on Truong Sa District and he was recruited.

 

His first days on the islands were not easy. At that time, there were no schools on the islands, so temporary classes were in soldiers’ houses. He had to make lesson plans and read and give scores to his pupils’ exercises in candle or oil lamp light. In 2015, a primary school on the Southwest Cay was built, facilitating the local teaching and learning.

 

When asked about the life on the islands, the teachers did not say much about themselves but about  their pupils, “Pupils here have sufficient books, notebooks and other school things provided by Truong Sa District Division of Education & Training and Khanh Hoa Department of Education & Training. However, pupils there still lack some updated knowledge due to travel and transport obstacles," says Teacher Pham Trung Viet.

 

3 schools have been constructed on the Spratly Islands, including the Southwest Cay, Sin Cowe Island and Truong Sa Town. The school activities are in accordance to the regulations and curricula of the Ministry of Education & Training. Mixed-grade classes are formed by necessity due to travel difficulties and the below number of pupils, according  to Tran Quang Man, Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Department of Education & Training. 

 

Cat Dan

Translated by N.T