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![]() Vocational training is now planned for the mostly Mong children in the secondary boarding schools of Ha Giang Province high in the mountains that border China north of Ha Noi.
The students will undergo
training that will help them find work in the province, says Ha Giang
Education Department director Luong Van Soong.
"It’s a model that I hope will be attractive to all students, but especially the ethnic minority students," he says.
The introduction of vocational training follows the successful introduction of public-private schools in the province.
Ha Giang now has two types of boarding schools.
At one, the State provides free meals and at the other – public-private – parents contribute to the cost.
But the meals at both are usually limited to men men – a mixture of corn flour, vegetable and either tofu or peanut – regardless of who pays.
Although not as nutritious
as the that enjoyed by the children of the lowlands, the students are
content with the fare because what they want most of all is not food,
but knowledge.
At the Dong Van District’s
Ta Phin senior secondary school, teacher Hien explains that a room
about 72mx2m serves as a dormitory.
"The walls are of bamboo and fibre and the beds are of planks," she says.
The only belongings of each child is a little wooden or tole box and an old, thin blanket.
The students each receive
VND100,000 (US$6) from the provincial administration while their
parents contribute rice, vegetables and firewood for their children.
Ta Phin Commune Viet Nam
Communist Party Committee Secretary Giang My Lung says local
administrators have done their best to subsidise meals for the students.
"Life on this high plateau is very difficult," he says.
"But everyone wants knowledge."
Ta Phin District is home to
2,680 people with 366 households classified as poor. Their yearly per
capita income is VND260,000 per year ($17). Yet parents still try to
send their children to school.
For example, each
households of the Dong Van District’s Lung Cu Commune voluntarily
contribute 30kg of rice a year to the boarding school, whether or not
their children attend there.
Tender persuasion
It is not easy to have all school-aged children attend classes.
Teachers visit each household where they stay, work and eat with the families to ensure children attend school.
Khau Vai kindergarten
headmistress Duong Thi Thuy explains that her staff visits the homes of
their pupils each morning to collect and carry the children to school.
"Some of the children live several kilometres away," she says.
The teachers also have to "translate" from Vietnamese to the language of their pupils.
"Up to 90 per cent of the
children can’t speak Vietnamese properly and the language barrier is a
major barrier for new teachers arriving from the delta."
All teachers have to learn a minority language to make communication with the students easier and teaching more effectively.
They have to make teaching aids to help the students more quickly understand the lessons and find them more interesting.
As Meo Vac District
Education and Training Department deputy director Nguyen Van Hien
explains: "Teachers are the second mothers and fathers of students in
the mountainous regions."
Lower dropout rate
The dropout rate from schools in Ha Giang Province was previously higher than elsewhere.
But the number of school drops has decreased with the establishment of public-private boarding schools.
Quan Ba District Education
and Training deputy director Long Thi Xo says the initiative has
improved the quality of student learning.
"They have more confidence in themselves and have passion in learning," she says.
The deputy director argues that although the model has some limitations it should be replicated.
The perception among
parents that their children will have to stay in the village with or
without learning is one of the negatives, she says.
Ha Giang Education and
Training Department director Luong Van Soong has proposed the
integration of education with vocational training as a way of
dispelling such notions.
The deputy director has
asked the Provincial People’s Committee to support his idea by
allocating money from its budget for pilot programmes.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
Ethnic highlands youth to get vocational training
VietNamNet Bridge – Vocational
training is now planned for the mostly Mong children in the secondary
boarding schools of Ha Giang Province high in the mountains that border
China north of Ha Noi.
The students will undergo
training that will help them find work in the province, says Ha Giang
Education Department director Luong Van Soong.
"It’s a model that I hope will be attractive to all students, but especially the ethnic minority students," he says.
The introduction of vocational training follows the successful introduction of public-private schools in the province.
Ha Giang now has two types of boarding schools.
At one, the State provides free meals and at the other – public-private – parents contribute to the cost.
But the meals at both are usually limited to men men – a mixture of corn flour, vegetable and either tofu or peanut – regardless of who pays.
Although not as nutritious
as the that enjoyed by the children of the lowlands, the students are
content with the fare because what they want most of all is not food,
but knowledge.
At the Dong Van District’s
Ta Phin senior secondary school, teacher Hien explains that a room
about 72mx2m serves as a dormitory.
"The walls are of bamboo and fibre and the beds are of planks," she says.
The only belongings of each child is a little wooden or tole box and an old, thin blanket.
The students each receive
VND100,000 (US$6) from the provincial administration while their
parents contribute rice, vegetables and firewood for their children.
Ta Phin Commune Viet Nam
Communist Party Committee Secretary Giang My Lung says local
administrators have done their best to subsidise meals for the students.
"Life on this high plateau is very difficult," he says.
"But everyone wants knowledge."
Ta Phin District is home to
2,680 people with 366 households classified as poor. Their yearly per
capita income is VND260,000 per year ($17). Yet parents still try to
send their children to school.
For example, each
households of the Dong Van District’s Lung Cu Commune voluntarily
contribute 30kg of rice a year to the boarding school, whether or not
their children attend there.
Tender persuasion
It is not easy to have all school-aged children attend classes.
Teachers visit each household where they stay, work and eat with the families to ensure children attend school.
Khau Vai kindergarten
headmistress Duong Thi Thuy explains that her staff visits the homes of
their pupils each morning to collect and carry the children to school.
"Some of the children live several kilometres away," she says.
The teachers also have to "translate" from Vietnamese to the language of their pupils.
"Up to 90 per cent of the
children can’t speak Vietnamese properly and the language barrier is a
major barrier for new teachers arriving from the delta."
All teachers have to learn a minority language to make communication with the students easier and teaching more effectively.
They have to make teaching aids to help the students more quickly understand the lessons and find them more interesting.
As Meo Vac District
Education and Training Department deputy director Nguyen Van Hien
explains: "Teachers are the second mothers and fathers of students in
the mountainous regions."
Lower dropout rate
The dropout rate from schools in Ha Giang Province was previously higher than elsewhere.
But the number of school drops has decreased with the establishment of public-private boarding schools.
Quan Ba District Education
and Training deputy director Long Thi Xo says the initiative has
improved the quality of student learning.
"They have more confidence in themselves and have passion in learning," she says.
The deputy director argues that although the model has some limitations it should be replicated.
The perception among
parents that their children will have to stay in the village with or
without learning is one of the negatives, she says.
Ha Giang Education and
Training Department director Luong Van Soong has proposed the
integration of education with vocational training as a way of
dispelling such notions.
The deputy director has
asked the Provincial People’s Committee to support his idea by
allocating money from its budget for pilot programmes.
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