Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Tâm (right). — Photo tienphong.vn

HÀ NỘI — One creates a space to convey knowledge and spirit, while the other is committed to information technology that brings safety to the community in digital space.

Both of them have been persistently on the journey of passion and dedication.

Space for knowledge

Creator of the space to impart knowledge and spirit is no stranger to the community.

She is Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Tâm, 35, who lives in Yên Quang Commune, Ý Yên District, the northern province of Nam Định.

A small figure in a wheelchair and a bright smile, her way of giving full and positive energy are familiar images of Tâm.

Tâm suffers from brittle bone disease and due to her health condition, she could only study until grade nine.

But, her desire to go to school and her dream of becoming a teacher always burned.

Tâm firmly believes that “not going to school does not mean stopping learning, not become a real teacher but still can help others learn and access knowledge”.

In 2004, Tâm started tutoring students in Yên Quang Commune, then expanded to teach students in neighbouring communes.

The classroom space gradually enlarged, from around Tâm's bed to the living room and later into a ten-metre private room.

Many batches of students came to study, filling the room, forcing them to divide into classes.

Tâm secretly wished that: "The room would be like the bottomless magic bag of the cartoon character Doraemon, containing all the students, with more complete equipment".

To guide and tutor students, Tâm supplements her knowledge and teaching skills and regularly updates educational information, learns about changes and reforms in the general education programme.

She also buys additional personal computers and printers to serve the teaching and learning.

Tâm said that her tutoring class currently had 20 students.

Maintaining the class for the past 21 years has been much fun but also a lot of challenges and difficulties.

The learning equipment is mainly provided by Tâm's family. Rewards for the students come from her personal awards and support from her family.

“I have never thought that people know about my class and many students come to the class is a pressure. That confirms the love and trust of the parents, the students and everyone for the brittle-bone Ngọc Tâm class. The love is growing stronger day by day,” she said.

With her contributions in volunteer activities, Tâm has received many awards, such as the National Volunteer Award and the Promising Young Vietnamese Faces 2022.

Safe cyberspace

Lê Thế Văn. — Photo tienphong.vn

Captain Lê Thế Văn, 36, is working at the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Văn has loved information technology since his years in senior school, following and entering engineering competitions on newspapers and television.

He passed the entrance exam to the Information Technology Department of the Hà Nội University of Science and Technology.

He graduated from university at the time when the MPS was recruiting cyber security officers, Văn applied and was accepted, becoming a security officer to prevent high-tech crimes.

For 12 years now, he has participated in many projects as well as directly joining in the fight against many people who take advantage of cyberspace to infringe upon the interests of individuals and organisations.

In particular, he has contributed many solutions and initiatives in performing tasks to protect national security and social order and safety, including researching and developing a social network user data system in Vietnamese language to serve national security, looking at and building a reconnaissance data management system to support the professional work of the network security force.

Văn said that studying information technology at university, especially when working at the unit, self-studying, regularly updating and improving information, knowledge and skills were mandatory requirements.

The more technology develops, the more sophisticated and complex data the tricksters use to commit crimes in many different forms.

To investigate those cases and identify new risks, he and his team must handle them immediately and persistently, regardless of day or night, because in cyberspace, trickers can erase evidence.

“We always persistently learn and improve our knowledge and skills, because if we neglect them for a while, we will fall behind,” said Văn.

With his contributions in the field of cyber security, Captain Lê Thế Văn received a Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister, a Certificate of Merit from the Minister of Public Security and was awarded the Outstanding Young Vietnamese Faces Award in 2023 by the Central Youth Union. — VNS