In their twenties, the young volunteers are full of enthusiasm to bring literacy to ethnic people in border areas. (Photo: VOV)

At 8 p.m., the 30 students of a special class in the border commune of Tri Le in Que Phong district, Nghe An province, are practicing their spelling.

Most of them are ethnic minority women between 30 and 60 years old. They got married when they were 17 or 18, had children, and are busy with farm work all year round. Their faces reveal the hardships in their lives. Some have never learned the alphabet. Some once attended school but dropped out because of work and family demands.

The young volunteers of Defense Economic Unit No. 4 are helping them resume their interrupted education.

It often takes the teachers hours to get to class, says Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nhu Hong, Deputy Political Commissar of Defense Economic Unit No. 4, recalling, “We walk on steep forest paths, not smooth flat roads. It’s 5 kilometers to the class.”

On rainy days getting to class is even harder. There are days when the young teachers don’t get back until almost dawn. Despite this difficulty, they keep working to bring literacy to their students.

Vi Hoang Anh is in charge of an illiteracy eradication class in Kem Don hamlet.

Vi Hoang Anh, one of the volunteer teachers, told VOV that despite bad weather and living far from the classroom, the learners still try to attend class.

"They wake up early in the morning, work hard without a break, and return home late in the evening. Some don’t have time to stop for a meal. They just take a handful of sticky rice to class. Others wait to eat until they get home from school because they don’t want to be late,” Hoang Anh recalled.

Teacher Lo Thi Phuong says the effort is paying off.

“All the learners learn to spell and combine letters during the first semester. In the second semester, they begin learning to read. They already know how to add and subtract, but haven’t yet learned to multiply or divide,” said Phuong.

Student Luong Thi Can of Kem Don hamlet, Que Phong district, recalled her life was difficult because of illiteracy in the past.

“Now I’m happy to be able to read and write. I want to thank the teachers and soldiers who came to the village to teach us how to read, write, and do math,” Can said.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nhu Hong said that, in addition to teaching them to read and write, the young volunteers have taught them social and financial skills and disseminated information about Party and State policies.

“The team has coordinated with local administrators to run these classes. The most disadvantaged areas are given priority. The first thing we have to do is persuade people to come to school. The volunteers go to each household to find out what the villagers think and what they want, and figure out the best way to teach them,” said Hong.

The illiteracy eradication classes have helped ethnic minorities in the border districts of Nghe An province learn more knowledge about how to grow crops and raise livestock more efficiently. Now they are more confident in business and their lives have also improved.