There will a range of events taking place aimed at honouring the life and career of Chu Van An and his contribution to the country’s education sector.

The plans have come together following the country compiling a dossier and submitting it to UNESCO in April, proposing that they should participate in organising a celebration to mark the 650th death anniversary of the renowned teacher.

The proposal was granted officially approval during UNESCO’s Executive Board Meeting in Paris, France, back in April 16, 2019.

Chu Van An, who lived between 1292 and 1370, is widely considered one of Vietnam’s most talented teachers, a man who devoted his life to the humanistic education philosophy, regardless of the wealth of his students. One of his key teachings was for students to learn that education goes hand in hand with practice and lifelong learning serves to contribute to benefiting society.

His thoughts and wisdom not only left a lasting impression on generations of Vietnamese learners, but also contributed to develop the region’s humanistic values. Chu Van An’s educational perspective features a number of progressive values and can be considered similar to the modern values summarised by UNESCO as “learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be humans”. VOV