HA NOI — Nine-year-old Tran Quoc Thien is one of the children most difficult to handle at the special needs school run by volunteer teachers in Binh Thanh District of HCM City.
Thien came to school on the first day of 2008 with a swollen face covered in bruises. During his first few weeks, Thien did not talk to any of his fellow students. Concerned with Thien’s behaviour, his teachers approached the child’s parents.
The parents were divorced. Thien’s father often beat him for not being able to make money. His father also banned him to communicate with women, including his grandmother, who reminded him of Thien’s mother.
"Thien was one of the toughest kids, fighting with classmates and cursing at the teachers," recalled Ngoc Khanh, his teacher. He stopped going to school and then left home at the age of eight. After a stint in the Go Vap juvenile detention centre, Thien was bailed out by his grandmother who wanted him to grow up to be a good student.
Another student of the school, Cu Van Binh, was luckier than Thien. His parents were still married and supported their child as best as they could. But Binh’s family was poor and the child had to sell lottery tickets and collect bottles to help supplement his family’s income. Persuaded by the boy’s teachers, Binh’s parents permitted him to go back to school part-time. Four years later, Binh is still in second grade.
Most students at the school are in similar situations to Thien and Binh.
The special needs school, set up by unpaid teachers , teaches 80 disadvantaged children from the first to fifth grades. Some of the students are homeless and live in bus stations or parks.
"The students are from different backgrounds," said Ngoc Khanh who shut down her store in Ba Chieu Market to become a volunteer teacher at the school.
"There are children who are six years old and ones who are 17 or 18 in a first grade class."
Teachers as parents
Most of the children pass one grade in a year but some, who are either mentally disabled or drop out, cannot complete a grade after a few years of studying, according to Khanh
The curriculum taught at the school was the standard one introduced by the district so it was quite hard for most children who are already struggling with life, said deputy head of the district’s Ward 25 education council.
"Teaching children of different ages is not easy and keeping them enrolled is even more difficult," said Khanh who holds a BA degree in foreign languages.
"The children drop out to help their parents earn a living", Khanh said.
The students only pay for their books and the school covers the rest of the fees. Each year the People’s Committee of the ward gives the children two sets of clothing and a pair of shoes each. More than 50 per cent of them, however, still cannot afford their own books. Teachers have been helping them to receive free books from other schools in the district.
The school opened in 1999 with 170 students, some of whom were even older than their teachers, said Pham Thi Ngoc Doan who founded the school after meeting with orphans and poor children in the city.
"It was very hard in the beginning as most of us found it difficult to believe in students who lived without rules and kept dropping out," said Doan. "Most of the teachers – my friends – in turn left after a short time because they were disappointed and disheartened."
The school had to move a few times before receiving a vacant building on loan from the People’s Committee of Ward 25.
"Since we secured a stable location, the teaching improved and the students felt more comfortable," said Doan who delayed marrying for five years to help the children.
"I just hope that my help will give the children some foundations for higher education and inspire them to follow a healthy life," she added.
Three students have graduated from secondary school and one is now studying at an accounting high school. — VNS
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