A high school in a harsh area in Thanh Hoa Province has only male teachers, who are considered local heroes for the efforts they must make just to get to school.
Hard working conditions equals all male teachers
Cao Son High School is located on a mountain in Lung Cao Commune, which is about 1,500 metres high. In order to access the school, there is no other way but go climbing the mountain, and there is only one rough and narrow path. The path is very dangerous, and lack of attention could lead to an accident. Because of the difficulties, retaining teachers has proved a challenge.
Despite the dangers, according to the village patriarch, the conditions have improved greatly from the days when it took a full day to get down the mountain.
Climbing mountain
Because of the dangerous terrain, the school has not had one female applicant since its inception in 2006. Many of the male teachers left a short time after they started, so that now the school has only 18. The education of the students relies solely on them.
Trinh Van Dung, the school’s principle, from Tho Xuan District, in the same province, has worked at the school from the beginning. He said that even though he has worked at several schools in mountainous regions before Cao Son, the community there is the most disadvantaged.
No electricity
Cooking a meal
“When I first came here, the school had only makeshift classrooms. Several teachers had to share rooms to make more space for classrooms. The weather here is very cold during winter, sometimes falling to zero degree Celsius. We lacked almost all conveniences, including clean water, electricity and mobile service.,” Dung recalled.
School on the mountain
Vi Van Hoan, 54, who has been working as a teacher for 30 years, has also worked at the school since it was built. “I’ve seen many colleagues quit. Sometimes I intended to move too, and I'm not sure why I've stayed this long. But now I guess I'll work here until I retire," he said.
