Efforts to help children of Oh Oh and Gia Hop go to school

(Baonghean) -O O and Gia Hop in Tuong Son commune are two adjacent villages, with a total of 148 Thai households, known by many people for their deprivation and backwardness. In poverty, the schooling of students here is also fragile...

Located about 13 kilometers from the center of Anh Son district, the road to the two villages of O O and Gia Hop is not easy, it becomes the first challenge that prevents those who want to come to the people here. Not only that, with limited land area, limited cultivation, and an incomplete system of electricity, roads, schools, and stations, the life of the people here is already difficult, even more difficult when facing the risk of falling behind and being illiterate.

Staff and teachers of the Department of Education and Training of Anh Son district help the kindergarten class move their belongings to the new school.

Following an officer from the Department of Education and Training, Anh Son, we were present in O O and Gia Hop. Here, apart from the primary school that has been invested in and built, there are still no kindergarten classes. Up to now, the children have had to study in the village's cultural house, a wooden house that is both low and cramped. Whenever the village holds a meeting, the children have to miss school. For the secondary school level, because there is no branch here, the children of O O and Gia Hop who want to continue to study in secondary school must go to the commune center, 14km away from the village, while the commune's secondary school does not have a dormitory, so going to school is difficult. This leads to the fact that many of the children of the ethnic minorities here have to drop out after a period of studying. At the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, there were 20 children studying in secondary school, but after a few months, they dropped out en masse. This is a very sad reality in the campaign to send students to school.

Visiting the family of Mr. Lu Van Nam (living in Gia Hop village), whose son is in 6th grade but has dropped out of school, Mr. Nam said: "The school is too far away, I have to stay at a local's house in the commune, and we don't have any money so I have to leave him at home to work on the farm." Looking at Cu Dat (Mr. Nam's son) who is only 11 years old, with a dark and prematurely aged face, we couldn't help but feel sad. When will the children of the local people here be able to get an education like other children?

Faced with this reality, on May 24, 2012, the Department of Education and Training of Anh Son district coordinated with Tuong Son Commune Kindergarten and Tuong Son Commune People's Committee to decide to move a kindergarten class of 30 children from 3 to 5 years old from the old school in O O village to study at the Tuong Son Primary School's public house. In joy, teacher Nguyen Thi Yen said: "So now, my students and I can study in spacious classrooms with more airy conditions, and we don't have to worry about having to miss school every time there is a village meeting." However, this is only a temporary solution, because letting preschool children study together in the primary school campus is not a long-term solution.

In addition, to solve the problem of secondary school students dropping out of school, after working with the leaders of Tuong Son Secondary School, Hoi Son Secondary School, the Party Committee of O O village and the people of O O and Gia Hop villages, it was agreed that in August 2012, 2 additional cultural classes will be opened at Tuong Son Primary School, with a total of 20 students. The Department of Education and Training is responsible for supplementing the facilities for the classes. Hoi Son Secondary School (Hoi Son commune) will receive 16 6th grade students to study in the 2012-2013 school year, in the form of boarding.

Talking to us, Mr. Ha Van Tam - Primary School teacher (residing in Gia Hop village) in charge of the O O, Gia Hop Education Cluster said: The policy of the district Department of Education and Training has created high consensus among parents and students. Therefore, on the first day when the kindergarten class was moved to the Tuong Son Primary School's office building, people from the two villages of O O, Gia Hop each had a job, some split bamboo to cover the yard, some carried soil to build a playground, and the children were very happy, as if they had just moved to a new house. The secondary school students were also very excited, many of them who had previously had to drop out of school due to the long distance have now registered to continue going back to school in the next school year.

In our opinion, with the current difficult conditions, the above solution is really a lifesaver to help children in the two villages have the conditions to continue going to school. However, the District People's Committee needs to soon consider directing the Department of Education and Training to coordinate with local authorities to find solutions to build classrooms and assign more teachers, and at the same time find solutions to prevent children from dropping out of secondary school. In the long term, with the specific difficulties, the competent authorities need to consider allowing the two villages of O O and Gia Hop to enjoy the State's special area policy.

Dang Nguyen