While her peers are eagerly preparing to enter the lecture hall, Tran Thi Hong Nhung - a student of class 12A3, Cu Huy Can High School (Ha Tinh) - still cannot answer the question that has kept her awake all night: "Where will I get the money to go to school?".
The miserable fate of a highland student
If anyone has ever doubted that a poor meal can nurture a dream, Nhung’s story is the quietest yet most moving answer. From a rickety kitchen on the side of a mountain, with no walls or doors, where meals often consisted of boiled wild vegetables and pickled jackfruit, the little student has treasured every ray of knowledge to overcome adversity, achieving 28.25 points in the 2025 high school graduation exam – a miracle written with sweat, tears and days of endless hunger.
Nhung’s family kitchen is made of bamboo and patched together with old plastic sheets. Every time it rains heavily, the whole family covers it with plastic sheets to block the wind, and on sunny days, the hot Lao wind blows on the face. Countless times, the rice pot suddenly collapsed because of the strong wind. But that is also the “center” of the family’s activities, the place to light the fire for simple meals and also the place where she quietly ignites her dream of going to school.
The familiar menu in that kitchen all year round is just boiled vegetables, pickled young jackfruit, and sometimes just sesame salt. "Mom is sick, dad can't do heavy work. Eating vegetables and jackfruit has become a habit, sister", Nhung told me sadly.
Despite living in such conditions, during her 12 years of high school, Nhung never missed a day of school because of rain or wind. The distance from Long Thuy village, Kim Hoa commune (Ha Tinh) to Cu Huy Can High School is more than 12km, winding hills, some sections are so steep that you have to push your electric bike on foot.
Every morning I wake up early, quietly overcoming the mountain mist and the Central region sun to go to class. I don't take extra classes, don't have air conditioning like my friends, but I always come first in the tests, my homework is neat and orderly.
Nhung said that it had been a long time since her family had had a meat meal. Her mother - Ngo Thi Tam (born in 1979) - had a nervous disorder and could not do heavy work. Her father - Tran Huu Lam (born in 1971) - was illiterate and in poor health, and could only grow some vegetables in the garden and pick a few more bundles of tea to sell for a few tens of thousands of dong a day. On the days when her father sold a bunch of tea, the whole family had a little more meat and fish - like the day Nhung's exam results were known, her father took the opportunity to go on an extra trip of tea and bought 50 thousand dong worth of meat, and the whole family celebrated in a meal called a "festival".
It sounds simple, but for my family, having meat and fish for every meal is already an effort, let alone thinking about sending our child to college. Sitting in a house of gratitude with an area of less than 30 square meters - with nothing valuable except a few certificates of merit stuck in the corner of the wall - my parents could only look at their child with tears in their eyes. "We also want our child to study, so that he will have less hardship in the future. But around the house, we don't know what to sell, who to borrow money from...", my mother choked up.
"I just need the smallest chance"
Despite facing countless difficulties, Nhung's eyes still lit up when she mentioned her dream of becoming a primary school teacher - to stand on the podium, to teach poor children like her that knowledge is the only way to overcome fate. She registered her wish to study Primary Education , with the belief that one day she would be able to nurture her dream.
“I will work part-time from my first year of university, any job – as long as I can study. I just need a chance to move on,” Nhung said, her voice soft but determined.
Teacher Nguyen Thi Ha - homeroom teacher of class 12A3 - choked up when talking about her student: "There was a day when I came to class hungry, the teacher and I both studied and drank milk. Nhung was quiet, gentle, but studied very well. She believed that only education could save her family. Nhung herself was the student with the most difficult circumstances in the school. The school also created conditions to waive fees, calling for more scholarships to help her go to school. In return, Nhung was always a shining example of attitude, academic achievement and especially determination and courage to overcome adversity."
28.25 points - Literature 9.5, Geography 10, History 8.75 - is not only the exam result, but also living proof of Nhung's extraordinary determination throughout 12 years of studying.
Mr. Tran Van Mai – Secretary of the Long Thuy village Party Cell – was moved: “Nhung is the pride of the whole village. For many years, she has always been an excellent student, never doing anything to upset her teachers or neighbors. But now, if no one helps, I am afraid she will have to stop right before the university door…”
Nhung’s dream is simple, she just needs a place to study, an opportunity to rise up by her own strength. And perhaps, if only a helping hand was extended, that little student would not have to turn her back on 12 years of studying, because she deserves to move on.
Please send all sharing with Tran Thi Hong Nhung to:
Permanent representative office of Education and Times Newspaper in the North Central region.
Address: No. 2, Lane 5, Nguyen Bieu Street, Ha Tinh City, Ha Tinh Province.
Hotline: 0913.473.217
Account number: 686605377999 - Vietinbank Ha Tinh Branch.
Transfer content: MT46
Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/cau-chuyen-xot-xa-cua-co-hoc-tro-ngheo-khong-co-tien-nhap-hoc-post742572.html
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