Teacher teaches swimming for free for 8 years to hundreds of poor students

Every afternoon, after school, Ms. Do Thi Ngoc Quy (physical education teacher at Tra Noc 2 Primary School (Binh Thuy District, Can Tho City) "leads" her students straight from the classroom door to the swimming pool. Her "swimming literacy" class will last 2 hours each session, many parents also come to monitor their children's progress.

Over the past eight years, Ms. Quy has helped about 1,500 students learn to swim (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).

After the roll call, warm-up and briefing, the children were given life jackets to get into the pool to start the lesson. Each child was led by Ms. Quy, guided in swimming techniques, filled with laughter and splashing sounds.

"Before 2016, every summer, I heard news of children drowning in many places. The West is surrounded by rivers, so I was very worried about the students, so I proposed organizing swimming lessons. I was also very happy that the proposal was immediately supported by the school and parents, and the students were very excited to learn to swim," Ms. Quy shared.

The school did not have a swimming pool, so Ms. Quy contacted a swimming pool near the school. Once again, luckily, Mr. Duong Quang Vu, the owner of the swimming pool, also supported wholeheartedly, agreeing to waive tickets for poor students and reduce ticket prices for the remaining students.

With support and a swimming pool, Ms. Quy's swimming class quickly became a place where parents sent their children. Especially parents whose children were in the final year of primary school always looked forward to the day their children would be enrolled in school.

Ms. Quy enthusiastically teaches each student (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).

"I teach swimming to children completely without receiving any compensation. In class, children are not only taught swimming but also necessary skills in water, and skills to save drowning people," said Ms. Quy.

Ms. Quy prioritizes 5th graders so that they can all learn to swim before moving on to the next level. She said that about 80% of the current class already knows how to swim.

On average, after only 5 lessons with Ms. Quy, children will learn to swim, and after 10 lessons they will be able to swim proficiently. Many students who have studied with her have become "little swimmers", winning prizes in swimming competitions.

Mr. Vu - the owner of the swimming pool - shared that in the area there is a swimming teaching service for children with a price of up to 1,500,000 VND. With a large number of students being taught to swim, if she collected money, it would be a huge amount, however, she still did not worry about this issue.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Loan (40 years old) confided: "Luckily, there is Ms. Quy's free swimming class. Not only does my child learn to swim, but he also has a healthy environment to play after school, so I feel very secure. Poor families like us are very grateful for Ms. Quy's actions," Ms. Loan said.

Parents come to monitor their children's progress after each lesson (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).

Up to now, Ms. Quy has been teaching swimming classes for primary school students in the district for 8 consecutive years. In total, she has taught about 1,500 students, of which nearly half are students from difficult circumstances who are taught for free.

With her contributions, in 2022, Ms. Quy was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister "For achievements in education and training from the 2017-2018 school year to 2021-2022, contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland".

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/co-giao-8-nam-day-boi-mien-phi-cho-hang-tram-hoc-tro-ngheo-20240627012755170.htm