"He was wholeheartedly devoted to education, concrete actions all came from the heart," said Mr. Vuong Cat Dinh, musing when asked about the "most impressive thing" with the late Minister Nguyen Van Huyen. Mr. Dinh has been an officer of the Ministry of Education through 4 generations of Ministers.

Along with about 100 guests, Mr. Dinh was present at the celebration of the 100th birthday of the late Minister Nguyen Van Huyen, organized by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Association of Former Teachers.

Late Minister Nguyen Van Huyen (far left) with President Ho Chi Minh

For 90-year-old professor Nguyen Van Chieatory. "He correctly guessed my psychology of wanting to do science and helped me get rid of my wife's ridicule "you scrape the paper", witty Prof. Dr. Chien.

9 years later, Professor Chien had the opportunity to return to the official position when the Department of Organization and Personnel wanted to promote him as Deputy Director of the Department of General Education. Minister Huyen invited him to meet face-to-face and advised him to return to building geosciences. "I secretly thank him for deploying cadres in accordance with the subjective ability and objective requirements of the country, unlike someone who promoted cadres just because of familiar factions."

The most special is the story when the State decided to build a Polytechnic University, including exploration geology. Thinking that Polytechnic University needed more, Professor Chien, after meeting with the Rector, prepared a document deciding to transfer all staff and facilities from the University to Polytechnic. When bringing the document directly to the presentation, Minister Huyen immediately signed it. "With the current situation of bureaucracy and popularization, there is certainly no minister who dares to deal with anything that crosses the head of his subordinates and my draft decision must at least wait for a while. It's a very lucky month to be signed," said Professor Chien.

Another story in the meeting was also mentioned by many people. In one province, the Provincial Party Committee promoted a provincial commissioner to be the head of the education department. But Minister Huyen firmly refused to approve, even though the provincial commissioner had good moral qualities. The reason for not being approved here is that the new candidate's educational background is at the Primary level, which makes it difficult to effectively direct the educational career of a delta province with a full range of kindergartens, preschools, and pedagogy. profession. The Provincial Party Committee later withdrew the decision and was about to give him a more suitable job.

The story of the closet

Nearly 90 years old, Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghinh still rides bicycles to the ceremony. This former Chief of Staff still vividly remembers the cabinet in the Minister's office after his death. At that time, the agency invited a family representative to take inventory and return the money and gifts that he kept in the drawer. Gifts of business trips, royalties for book review, allowances for deputies to the National Assembly... are left by the Minister, visiting and helping low-wage workers and subordinates when they meet them. difficult.

An official of the Ministry of Education with working conditions and working closely with Professor Huyen's family, Mr. Le Van Chung, said that the vehicles worked in the late Minister's room from 1954 to his death (1975), still be kept as good, he did not change. Even for his children's wedding, he did not invite officials at the Ministry because he did not want to disturb everyone.

Mr. Vuong Cat Dinh could not forget the story of the cassette machine that lawyer Phan Anh, then the Minister of Foreign Trade, gave to Minister Huyen when he came to his house to play. After bringing it home for a few days, Mr. Huyen brought it to the General Department and the Department of International Cooperation to use, because the cassette recorder could record audio, which was very valuable at that time.

"Having a job until now, more than 33 years after his death, I still have a strong memory in my mind about the resoluteness and kindness of the old man," recalled Mr. Tran Dinh Thi, secretary of the late Minister. . The secretary before Mr. Thi made a mistake, so he was severely criticized. Minister Huyen asked him to quit his job and not come to the agency until he received the decision to transfer to another agency. However, every time he visited the locality where that cadre lived, he would send gifts or visit in person.

Mr. Nghinh will never forget the times when the office staff did not prepare the report carefully, when speaking, the Minister still held the paper to read smoothly and coherently and added a lot of information to those documents. "Working seriously, demanding high but also very generous", that's what not only Mr. Nghinh but also those who work with him are well understood in Minister Nguyen Van Huyen.

The lesson is still valid

"The flower of the regime" is a familiar word referring to the educational achievements that the late Minister Nguyen Van Huyen has worked hard to build for 29 years.

For example, in the direction and development of education, it is very important to build and develop the right "education tower. This lesson is still hot because the current "education tower" has many contradictions reason, there is an inversion compared to the time of Nguyen Van Huyen.

Another topical value is the "illiteracy eradication and universalization of education, today called education for all". UNESCO's recent recommendation to Vietnam on the possibility of not achieving literacy by 2015 in its 2008 global monitoring report is the most obvious concern.

Interested in the "first public exploration of ethnology and research on Vietnamese people" by the late Minister Huyen, Prof. Pham Minh Hac mentioned "lessons" on character education - an issue that is becoming more and more pressing with the current educational situation.

One of Prof. Dr. Huyen's retirement plans when he retires is to write a book about the example of teachers who have overcome hardships to train an adult generation. Few people know, Prof. Dr. Huyen's simple wish at that time was to have a typewriter to do this.

Recently, his children returned to Tuyen Quang, where the Ministry of Education and Training was headquartered for the longest time during the resistance war. People here still mention the intimate memories between patriotic figures and Professor Nguyen Van Huyen who was attached to them at that time, such as Professor Ho Dac Di and Ton That Tung. Dr. Nguyen Van Huy, the late Minister's son, said that the family's wish is that the system of 3 preschools, primary schools and junior high schools here are named after those 3 professors. "This will be a connection between the past, present and future and I hope the Ministry of Education and Training will pay attention," Mr. Huy said. Currently, the name of the late Professor Nguyen Van Huyen has been given to the road, 2 schools in Hanoi and 1 high school in Tuyen Quang.