Part 2: Going to school to learn to read and write... get to interact and receive gifts!
Getting students to attend literacy classes is difficult, maintaining attendance until the end of the course is even more difficult. To overcome this "difficulty", teachers have to go to each student's house to call them when it is time for class; even encourage students with gifts and housework support to make them come to class.
My Ha - Tien Hung• November 20, 2024
Getting students to attend literacy classes is difficult, maintaining attendance until the end of the course is even more difficult. To overcome this "difficulty", teachers have to go to each student's house to call them when it is time for class; even encourage students with gifts and housework support to make them come to class.
“Why haven’t you come to class yet?”, Mr. Cut Hong Quan (Xa Luong Primary School (Tuong Duong District) called out in a phone call urging students to come to class. It was nearly half an hour past class time, but the literacy class with nearly 20 students was still empty. Mr. Quan had to call each student. For students who didn’t have a phone, he had to ride his motorbike around the village to find them.
Teacher Quan is one of two teachers at Xa Luong Primary School, assigned to be in charge of the literacy class in Na Be village. Following Teacher Quan to find his students, we can understand how difficult the work of literacy in the highlands is. "I'm still cooking," student Loc Thi Van (33 years old), shouted from inside the house when Teacher Quan came to call her to learn to read and write. Van said that although she really wanted to learn to read and write, she was late to class because she was busy with work. After hearing the student's answer, Teacher Quan continued to run to call someone else. As a Khmu, living in Na Be village, Teacher Quan knew most of his students' houses. However, calling them to class on time was a problem.
This class was opened more than 3 months ago, initially there were more than 30 students, most of them were Khmu women in Na Be village and Mong women in Hop Thanh village. But then, many left to work for the company, the class only had about 20 students left. Because the students had to go to the fields during the day, the class started from 7pm to 9pm. However, almost every night they started class late.
Almost every night there are no students. Although the class is scheduled for 7pm, it usually takes half an hour to start, sometimes we have to use the village loudspeaker to call students.
Mr. Cut Hong Quan, Xa Luong Primary School (Tuong Duong district)
As one of the first students to arrive at class, Vu Y Xe (34 years old, Hop Thanh village), said: "To get to class on time, I have to bring my child along. Every day I go to class, I have to take my child with me, there is no one to look after him at home. My husband is a doctor, but I am illiterate, so I feel self-conscious. Before, I applied for jobs at many companies, but because I was illiterate, no one would accept me." At the beginning of last summer, knowing that some people in the village were going to a literacy class together, even though she was 8 months pregnant, Vu Y Xe still asked the teachers to let her attend. Since then, Vu Y Xe has not missed a single class. One day, she went to visit her parents in Ky Son district, hundreds of kilometers away from home, but she still took the opportunity to return early to be on time for class.
Vu Y Xe is a rare case of attending school regularly. “Because of his age, it is very difficult to learn when going to school. If he misses a few classes, it is very difficult to continue. With this situation, we do not know how many people can last until the end of the program. We have also tried our best to persuade them,” said teacher Quan. “Here, the rate of illiterate men is very high, but only women come to class. Eradicating illiteracy for men in the mountains is extremely difficult. They have a high level of inferiority and self-esteem, making it very difficult to persuade older men to attend illiteracy eradication classes,” added teacher Quan.
According to the representative of the Department of Education and Training of Tuong Duong district, by 2023, 100% of communes and towns will meet the standards for eliminating illiteracy at level 2, reducing the rate of illiterates at level 2 in the age group of 15-35 to 1.2%. The annual target is to have 40-60 people participating in illiteracy eradication with appropriate learning organization forms, especially in the communes of Luong Minh, Nhon Mai, Tam Hop, and Xa Luong. Currently, the number of illiterates is still high in residential communities. Meanwhile, mobilizing students to attend classes regularly is very difficult.
Similar to Tuong Duong district, in Ky Son district, there are 2 literacy classes opened by the district's Department of Education and Training that have just finished phase 1. However, opening phase 2 is facing many difficulties due to lack of students. "The literacy program has 2 phases, but most students can only finish phase 1. Now they are all working for companies, so we cannot go to their homes to persuade them to continue studying," said a representative of the Department of Education and Training of Ky Son district.
Sharing his experience in mobilizing students to attend literacy classes, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nhu Hong - Deputy Political Commissar of Economic - Defense Group 4 (based in Ky Son) said that first of all, it is necessary to coordinate well with local Party committees, authorities, schools, and management boards of villages with students to integrate implementation more closely, especially in propaganda, mobilizing husbands, children and families to create the best conditions for students to fully participate in learning, as well as have time to review and do homework at home. Meanwhile, teachers must also know the customs and practices of the people.
“First, based on the locality’s request, we set up a team to survey each village, go to each household to grasp the situation, circumstances and characteristics of each student to have the best measures in organizing and teaching. We met each person to mobilize, sometimes having to eat and drink with them for many days,” said Lieutenant Colonel Hong, adding that during the learning process, not only did we provide all the tools for the students, those who came to class were also given gifts. The gifts included raincoats, sandals, flashlights, etc. to make it more convenient for the students to come to class.
“There are even many cases where students use the excuse of being busy with crops or building a house to miss school, we immediately mobilize forces to help them. So that they have time to go to school. There are cases where students get sick and have to go to the hospital, we go to the hospital to visit them, so that they can go to class as soon as they are discharged from the hospital. In the classroom, teachers also incorporate many programs, creating a fun atmosphere, so that students have more motivation,” added Lieutenant Colonel Hong.
