Hanoi (VNA) - Aspeople rush around getting ready for Tet, many teachers in thenorthwestern mountains try to bring the festivities to poor ethnic students inremote areas - for two reasons.

Firstly, they want to keep the youngsters happy, and secondly, around homefiresides, they want to encourage them to return to school after the holidays.

Although located in a remote and difficult area of Bao Yen district in Lao Cai province,teachers from Tan Tien Boarding School each year organise a Tet programmeto show students how to make chung (sticky rice) cakes. The teachersalso raise funds to buy clothes and gifts for them.

They also visit the families of students in remote areas where the terrain isso rough, it looks like the roads end in heaven.  

Teachers from Bao Yen High School in Lao Cai province have spent days visitingstudents’ homes, most of whom come from the Tay, Mong and Dao ethnic groups.

Despite the icy coldness, the teachers crossed springs and roared up slipperyslopes to reach remote villages to present Tet gifts.

Quan Van Thuong, deputy head of Bao Yen school, said the school dividedteachers into many teams so that they could cover the region quickly andefficiently. They mostly travel by motorbikes or on foot.
Each trip helps the teachers understand the lives and culture of theirstudents, according to one teacher.

Teacher Nguyen Sy Tuan from Bao Yen school told the Tuoi Tre (Youth)newspaper that travelling 20km up one mountain and then another 10km down theother side to reach homes in Mong Lung Ac village made teachers feel the greatdetermination of their students.
The visits also helped students and their parents feel happier aboutwelcoming Tet, he said.

“Gathering with students and their parents around the cooking fire to talk andsing has great meaning and warmth,” teacher Nguyen Anh Vu from Lao Cai provincetold the newspaper.

Teachers also encourage students, particularly those from remote areas, toreturn to school after Tet, despite the difficulties.

After a long holiday, students often do not want to return to school. Beforeand after the Tet holiday, ethnic people have many festivals of their own.Besides, many parents want their children to quit school and work to earn somemoney for the family.

Ba Vinh Secondary School in the central province of Quang Ngai’s Ba To districtdrew lessons from past Tet holidays by asking each teacher to raiseawareness about attending school to both parents and students.
Many students are from H’re ethnic group, which has a tradition of enjoyinglong Tet festivals, which prevent many students from returning toschool.

In Tay Tra district, where many people are from the Ca Dong ethnic group,teachers meet the parents of every student to persuade them to let theirchildren go to school. Most of people in the group prefer to take theirchildren into the forest to find wood to sell.-VNA