Old teacher has held a free class for poor Khmer ethnic children for 18 years
Nong Na Nuong, 66, lives in a charity house in Vinh Tam Hamlet of Vinh Trung Commune in Tinh Bien District, and gets no pension because she had to quit teaching because of health problems in 1997. She gets support from a relative and her neighbours.
But none of that has diminished her passion to teach.
“I had worked as a primary teacher for 20 years before opening this free class for local poor children," she said.
Her class has up to 20 students during summer
She teaches Vietnamese language and mathematics, at primary school level, and she attracts 10-15 students -- as many as 20 during summer.
“We really admire teacher Nuong for her enthusiasm for education," siad Le Thi Diem, the mother of one of the students. "She refuses any tuition fees even though she has her own economic and health problems."
Many of her former students have visited her and donate notebooks for new generations
Many of her students are ethnic Kkmer, and sometimes Nuong's former pupils bring notebooks for the new students to use.
She was awarded the Medal “For the sake of women liberation” in 1995 and the Medal “For the sake of education” in 1996.
