Twice a student of teacher Do Trong Kim
I have had many teachers in my life, but I always remember the image of teacher Do Trong Kim from when I was a student until when I worked at the Vietnam Construction Bank.
I was a student of the second class of the University of Finance (1964 - 1969). At first, the school had about 800 students (class I, II and specialized). By the time I graduated in 1969, there was already a class VI (with nearly 2,300 students). I think all 6 classes had two characteristics in common: they were all evacuated to Lap Thach (Vinh Phuc) and they were all students of Mr. Do Trong Kim - the first teacher and principal of the University of Finance.
Press statue head first because name school To be ....
We entered the school with a not-so-enthusiastic mood. While other prestigious schools were the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, the University of Science and Technology, the University of Education, the University of Economics and Finance, abbreviated as the University of Finance (now the National Economics University), the school had a very strange name: "School of Finance - Accounting - Central Bank Cadres" (which was later misread by students as: School of Talented Cadres - Good at flirting - Rebellious - Central). Everyone was confused and embarrassed about whether it was a University or a College. There was an anecdote about a senior in the first class who was embarrassed and didn't know how to explain to his girlfriend, so he lied that he was studying at the University of Finance. So on Sunday night, his girlfriend saw him off to school, so he took him to the University of Economics and Finance, pretended to go to school, waited for his girlfriend to leave, then quietly took the train to Buoi to return to his school... Thinking back now, it's funny, because at that time the school had to work hard to do ideological work for the students just because of the long, strange name of his school.
We met Mr. Do Trong Kim for the first time on the opening day to welcome new students. The first impression was that he was tall, thin, with a crew cut, white hair, simple and a warm, whispering voice. The gist of what he said was, "You are the first class of students to be trained in Finance - Accounting - Banking in a systematic way. That is a lucky thing because your generation is both working and self-studying, and if you are lucky, you will have Soviet and Chinese experts to exchange experiences and give you a few sets of documents...". He also said: "Finance - Accounting officers are the key treasurers of the country, of the people... so they must be diligent, frugal, honest, and upright...". He emphasized: "You are the first class of Finance - Accounting - Banking officers to succeed and replace the class of resistance officers and also have to return to the South to build a socialist finance foundation, so the responsibility is very heavy". Then the teacher told us the story of how the young Finance sector after the August Revolution served the resistance... No one felt that the ideological work was heavy. Hearing such hardships was very touching, but no one understood the depth of the teacher's passion... Until after 35 years of working closely with the profession, I finally understood, and I was moved to tears and wanted to say: "Teacher, I understand now!". Only then did I understand how hard we had made him work with our impulsive thoughts. Only then did I understand how hard he had to work with the Ministries so that 4 years later, when he received the bright red diploma, although the name of the School was still long, it was printed as UNIVERSITY GRADUATION DIPLOMA.
Press statue rank two - Jacket three lot go up and Go …
It was not until June 1965, when the school evacuated to Lap Thach, Vinh Phuc, that we had the opportunity to meet and understand more about Mr. Do Trong Kim. It can be said that during the nearly 4 years of evacuation, our lives were closely tied to the teachers, under the guidance and attentive care of the principal. Looking back now, it is hard for us to imagine - having to move thousands of people, including students, staff (and their families) along with all their belongings and equipment nearly a hundred kilometers away in wartime transportation conditions... We could only go by train, and to Tien Kien station we had to walk another 22km... We had to take care of accommodation, food, bathing, toilets, medical treatment... for thousands of people and hundreds of families... without having the tools, means or capital... We had to quickly stabilize life (from food, clothing, rice, firewood, fish sauce, salt, pots, pans... for thousands of people), and also worry about stabilizing education (from books, documents, lamp oil, to halls, tables, chairs, shelters...) only then did we see how hard it was for the teachers and especially Mr. Kim... At first, we stayed at people's houses, but only 3 months later... with knives and sticks as tools, the teachers and 800 students... started cutting bamboo, cutting thatch, chopping bamboo, splitting bamboo strips, weaving bamboo fences, roofing... to build shelters for each class, each family, for the principal's office, building a kitchen, digging wells, building a hall... to stabilize life, starting the second school year. The principal was evacuated to Doan Ket hamlet, Class I was in Dao Moi, Class II was in Tam Da (later classes expanded to Truong Xuan, Quang Huy, Yen Thiet,...) The hall was on the hill, and the class camps were in Xa Cu forest...
Only then did we realize how worried and hard-working the teachers were. We still remember the image of Principal Do Trong Kim and Vice Principal Pham The Phiet everywhere, checking the halls, the dining halls, the classrooms, and the shelters with sick students. He was like the head of the family, taking care of the lives, jobs, and safety of thousands of people in the evacuation area. And despite all the difficulties, he still had the school library transported from Hanoi to Lap Thach. I was the youngest in the class, so I was assigned to work in the library (arranging, cataloging, making cards, and lending books...).
One afternoon, the principal stopped by and saw me eating cassava porridge while reading a book. He kindly asked me something and suddenly asked, “Is your brother also in the first course?” Yes, I was shy and stammered. He returned to his office and brought me a glass of lemonade… We remember most of all his two important decisions:
Firstly, at the end of the second year, the school noticed that the health of the students was declining. The initial romance (Eating a bowl of green bananas, remembering home // Is there anyone returning to that faraway place... // Sending my love to my mother // With a little of the strong scent of Tam Da...) had disappeared... replaced by heat and lethargy. The teacher decided: Divide the kitchen into small classes. Each class has a caterer with a small warehouse (rice, salt, oil, dried fish...). The small kitchen is like a family (like my class, which only has 4 trays) so it is easy to manage and improve. The caterer is like a mother, an older sister who takes care of the two meals, and there are also students to help, so the food is hotter and tastier, with an extra plate of braised fish, a bowl of cassava soup, a bowl of molasses sweet soup, and if someone is sick, there is a bowl of hot porridge with a boiled egg.
Second, the Teacher requested and assigned the target of increasing the production for the classes to break ground to grow vegetables, eggplants, beans, etc. to supplement the rich meals. The health of the students improved significantly. On the wall newspaper, cheerful verses appeared (look at the green corn, potato, and cassava fields / The color of the sugarcane is fresh and cool yellow / The vegetable garden by the stream that I watered / Cooked with sweet field crab soup)
The teachers also lived like us, the single teachers also ate in the communal kitchen. But we loved the principal the most - he evacuated alone. His wife, Ms. Le, was a small and skinny person, working at the Ministry of Finance, so she took her children to evacuate with the ministry. Therefore, he devoted all his time, effort, and heart to taking care of the school and the students, taking the lead in the lives and studies of thousands of people.
It can be said that the 4-year evacuation life of nearly 800 students of course I + II, both difficult and favorable, health and study were inseparable from the care of the school and especially of the beloved principal. Many times I wondered, where did the thin, white-haired teacher have enough strength and courage to take care of everything while still maintaining that smile and warmth, to be ready to pack his backpack and leave his job at the Ministry, leave the Capital, take on a new, difficult and arduous task, taking care of us both mentally and physically. Is that the courage of a soldier and a Party member?
Press statue Tuesday - Again Okay To be learn game belong to Teacher .
After graduating, the diploma with the signature of Mr. Do Trong Kim, dated January 1, 1970, is a beautiful souvenir.
I worked at the Construction Bank, Hanoi branch, and then a year later at the Central Construction Bank. And I never expected to once again be "a student of Mr. Kim in a different way". It was when I read the regime documents with his signature that I learned that before he became the first Principal of the School of Finance - he was the second Director (General Director) (after Mr. Trinh Huy Quang) of the Construction Bank of Vietnam (1958 -1962). I looked at his simple, gentle, and strong signature on the documents still in circulation and felt like I was meeting him again. I heard the old cadres talk about him with respect and affection. Reading the directives, regulations, and professional documents that the Teacher signed and issued at that time, I suddenly felt like I was a student of Mr. Do Trong Kim, Mr. Thai Van Hoa (former Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Construction Bank and at that time the head of the Finance Department of the school). Mr. Nguyen Van Dat taught me for several years. I also met Ms. Le (the Teacher's wife) who also worked at the ministry. Then 5 years later, I worked with Mr. Do Trong Khai - the Teacher's eldest son. He worked in the Foreign Trade Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, calm and gentle. Mr. Khai and I were close, both worked in the Youth Union and shared the same feelings, cared about and often told stories about Mr. Do Trong Kim.
50 years later, at the 65th anniversary of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, I met Mr. Do Trong Hung (the second son of the Teacher) again. We talked about the Teacher who had passed away and I was very proud to tell Hung: "I was your father's student!"
Same time bar Spring - Same Teacher .
60 years have passed - Mr. Do Trong Kim has long since left this world. Generations of students from the School of Finance have grown up, present in all parts of the country... in many different positions... We think of the more than two thousand students of the first 6 courses that I studied with, met, and cooperated with in my later work. You guys have grown up in all positions in the financial, accounting, and banking systems of the Ministries, enterprises... are proof of the results of cultivating people of the school, of the teachers at that time and especially the passion of Mr. Do Trong Kim. In particular, nearly 200 students of courses I and II who went to the South after Tet Mau Than, bravely and steadfastly on all financial fronts from the R war zone to the provinces after liberation, have fulfilled the Teacher's reminders of the past. Later, when we have the opportunity to meet again at the class reunion, in the hall... we are all moved, talking about the time of our beloved teachers. Up to now, the class of students from that time are in their 80s, 90s, 100s and only about 1/3 remains... but we think, from the time of youth entering the School of Finance... to middle age working in the industry, to retirement... it seems like we are still the Teacher's students.
And I think: We, along with the students of the University of Finance of the following generations, have the same Teacher, the first Principal, who laid the foundation for the University of Finance. We, along with our seniors, seniors, and juniors who are officers of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (the predecessor of the Bank for Construction of Vietnam), have the same Teacher, the senior leader of the Industry, Mr. Do Trong Kim - the second General Director of the Bank for Construction in 1958 - 1962, and that common memory is the source that connects us with you.
This article is like a memory of youth dedicated to my peers, like a stick of incense in memory of a beloved teacher. The memories are jumbled, mixed with the forgetfulness of an old person… but it is our youth.
Here is a copy of a newspaper article from that time about an unforgettable evacuation period:
IF I WERE
If I were an artist
I will draw the picture
Drawing beautiful Lang Cong
Like flowers in the green forest
The mountains are high… towering
The stream flows… flows around
Clouds drift across the mountain top
Mist covered glitter
Draw a herd of fat, smooth cows
Chewing grass gently
Drawing corn, potato, cassava fields
Fresh green color…
If I were a poet
I will write a poem
Praise for courage
And boundless faith
Of the Teachers
Giving my all
With a kind heart
Cultivating green shoots
Praise the young people
Vitality at 20
With strong arms
Give love to life
Praise the new life
So simple and ordinary
But full of happiness
And sweet love…
If I were an artist
I will sing the song
The green forest recedes… recedes forever
The song flies... flies far...
September 1965
Lang Cong - Lap Thach