VietNamNet Bridge - Quang Duc hamlet in Cam Lam district in Khanh Hoa province is called the ‘teachers’ valley’ as it has 470 households and more than 200 teachers.

There are more than 200 teachers in the teachers' valley of Quang Duc

Tran Minh Te, head of Quang Duc hamlet, said that in 1973-1974 about 300 households from Trieu Phong district in the central province of Quang Tri moved to the area to settle down. Of these, 17 were teachers.

Despite difficulties, the migrants vowed not to educate their children. They set up the first school in the hamlet, now called Cam Hiep Nam Primary School.

After the school was established, 17 teachers taught students who grew up to be teachers also. 

In Quang Duc, there are many families where parents, sons and daughters and sons-in-laws and daughters-in-law all are teachers. 

All seven children of teacher Tran Minh Hai, for example, now work as teachers. 

In Do Hoang, Nguyen Duc Thuong’s and Trinh Thi Kim Lau’s families, three siblings are teachers. 

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Bai, Pham Van My and Tran Van Dac, the older teachers, have sons-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandchildren working as teachers at local schools.

Graduating from the Nha Trang Pedagogical Junior College in 1992, Trinh Thi Kim Lau became a teacher at the Tan Sinh Primary School and then Cam Hiep Nam School.

Quang Duc hamlet in Cam Lam district in Khanh Hoa province is called the ‘teachers’ valley’ as it has 470 households and more than 200 teachers.

Lau said she experienced hardships, but has never thought of giving up the job.

“Students all are innocent and playful, so I can have wonderful experience every day in my teaching life, full of memories. I'm not just a teacher, but also a mother, a friend to students. I love the land and the people here,” she said, adding that she will work at the school until the end of her career.

According to Nguyen Thi Hoang Nguyen, deputy headmaster of Cam Hiep Nam Primary School, the school has 25 teachers, including 15 Quang Duc locals. Senior teachers at the schools have been working for 25 years, while the youngest have been working there for several years.

Te said older people hit the gong twice a day to urge children to study. After the gong sounds, all children have to be at home and learn their lessons and cannot be seen wandering the streets.