Schools in the mountainous areas of Nghe An proactively find solutions to 'call' students back to class after Tet

One day before students officially returned to school, from the 5th day of Tet, teachers of Keng Du Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Ky Son) returned to school and divided into each village to wish a happy new year and encourage students to attend school. On the morning of the 6th, the school gathered the whole school, met with students and arranged meals and accommodation for students. Today (the 9th day of the lunar calendar) is also the first day of school for the whole school, more than 350 students attended school. The whole school only had 6 students absent and all of them had permission.

Students of Keng Du Ethnic Minority Secondary School gather to salute the flag on the first school day after Lunar New Year. Photo: NTCC

Maintaining a stable learning routine before and after Tet is one of the important tasks that the Board of Directors of Keng Du Ethnic Minority Secondary School has set and focused on implementing for many years. A good sign, according to teacher Nguyen Huu Luan - Principal of the school, is that in recent years, the situation of students dropping out of school after Tet has decreased a lot, even though most of the school's students are Khmu ethnic people.

Sharing about this, Mr. Luan added: In the past, students studied one session and went home the other, so after Tet, many students were reluctant to go to school or had the mentality of taking a long break from school to celebrate Tet. However, since 2012, the school has implemented a boarding model, where students can eat and stay at school, so students are excited to return to school, and there is no longer a situation of absenteeism like in previous years. Before Tet, the school also organized a year-end meal, promoting and reminding both students and parents to encourage them to attend school regularly.

In cold weather, students and teachers wear warm clothes to ensure their health. Photo: NTCC

At Tay Son Primary and Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Ky Son), where 100% of the students are Mong ethnic people, this morning, over 95% of the students attended school. The restleave schoolFor some reasons like there is a wedding in the village, or the family is busy with a ceremony so the children asked for permission to stay home from school.

Teacher La Thanh Huyen - Vice Principal of the school said: This morning, at around 4am, the weather in Tay Son was very cold, down to 1 degree Celsius, by 6-7am the weather was warmer but still at 4 degrees Celsius. However, students still woke up early and went to school on schedule. To keep students warm, we moved the flag salute period to the middle of the session and instead organized activities such as cleaning up at the beginning of class, organizing extracurricular activities to "warm up" students, creating excitement for the first class.

Students of Tay Son Primary and Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Ky Son) organized outdoor activities to combat the cold weather. Photo: NTCC

With the characteristics of a school with 100% of students being Mong ethnic people, teacher La Thanh Huyen said that "here students can celebrate Tet until the end of January and the situation of students dropping out of school to stay home and get married still happens". In fact, although the situation of students dropping out of school has been limited to a minimum, before Tet at Tay Son Primary and Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, there were still 2 female students in grades 8 and 9 who dropped out of school to get married. Therefore, before and after students return to school, the school still regularly conducts propaganda to prevent and combat child marriage through parents, organizations, departments, and mobilizes the government to participate. After Tet, the school also soon stabilizes teaching and learning, in which, students in grades 6, 7, and 8 will strengthen cultural review to participate in cultural exchange competitions at the district level. Meanwhile, students in grade 9 will focus on reviewing for the entrance exam to grade 10.

Along with teaching, the school organizes accompanying educational activities to make students excited about going to school, contributing to improving the quality of mass education.

This morning, the weather in Thong Thu commune and many other areas in Que Phong district dropped to 6 degrees Celsius but students still went to school in full. Photo: NTCC

At Thong Thu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Que Phong), all students have stabilized their studies even though this morning the temperature in the area was 6 degrees Celsius and the weather was much colder than before Tet. According to teacher Hoang Ngoc Thanh - Principal of the school, although the school is located in a difficult area, in the past few years the school's propaganda for students to go to school has been more favorable because all classes have their own groups for parents and homeroom teachers to share information about class activities.

In addition, the school also uses electronic contact books to contact parents, reminding them of things that need to be done after students return to school. After stabilizing the classroom, the school also quickly stabilized teaching, focusing on training to prepare for the district-level excellent student exam, tutoring weak students and preparing final year students to take the 10th grade entrance exam.

Class time of students at Thong Thu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Que Phong). Photo: NTCC

In Nghe An's school year program, after Tet, schools will start semester II of the 2022-2023 school year.

Regarding the organization of teaching and learning after Tet, Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training said: Schools operate normally from the 6th day of Tet. However, for some special schools, border highlands, boarding and semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities, they can proactively arrange flexible teaching plans, suitable to reality, ensuring the curriculum and plan of the school year. To stabilize teaching and learning soon, before Tet, the Department also issued a document for schools to have solutions to prevent students from dropping out after Tet. At the same time, strengthen solutions to mobilize students to go to school, maintain the attendance rate of students.

Schools also need to review students at risk of dropping out and classify them to have appropriate measures for each student.