Summer activities in residential areas: Lack of "leaders"

(Baonghean) -During the summer, most children from rural to urban areas, from coastal to mountainous areas all wish to participate in summer activities. However, due to the lack of initiators and the lack of a systematic plan in directing and guiding, in some places children still cannot participate...

Children of grade 1, Quang Trung ward (Vinh city) do morning exercises.

The Youth Union of Block 4, Quang Trung Ward - Vinh City started the summer activities schedule the earliest. Every Saturday evening, children gather at the Block Cultural House to participate in games, performances, Team activities... In Quang Trung Ward, each Youth Union registers a summer activities schedule alternating on weeknights, so in the ward, almost every night there is singing, dancing, and drumming of children. In addition, in the morning, all the blocks in Quang Trung Ward organize physical exercises for children. In addition to the physical exercises according to the program, the teachers also popularize folk dance songs to the children, attracting a large number of children to participate.

In Nam Thanh - Nam Dan commune, all 12 hamlets have vibrant summer activity programs. The most prominent are hamlets 4 and 5 where students and pupils come back for summer vacation, so the summer activity programs have become richer, more diverse and closer. In addition to the hard program that the Commune Youth Union Executive Committee disseminates, the youth union cadres of hamlets 4 and 5 have found additional useful activities that suit the needs and interests of the children. Secretary of the Commune Youth Union Nguyen Van Thanh said: "Every year, the Nam Thanh Commune Youth Union competes in Team rites and performing arts, creating a competitive movement among the youth unions. Therefore, almost 100% of Nam Thanh children participate in summer activities."

Since the beginning of June, the Nam Dan District Youth Union has issued a document guiding the organization of summer activities for children. In addition to the training programs for commune youth union officials, the District Youth Union has also implemented movements launched by the Central Youth Union Council such as: "Children do small things", "Do thousands of good deeds". To prevent drowning for children, the District Youth Union has coordinated with the Youth Union of Brigade 414 - Military Region 4 to organize free swimming lessons for children from 8 to 15 years old. Up to now, 2 classes of 50 children have been organized, mainly children in the town and neighboring communes. In addition, the District Youth Union also organizes field trips, visits to historical sites in the area, and at the same time implements activities to care for, restore and promote the values ​​of historical and cultural sites.

In addition to the evening activities, in Nam Dan communes such as Nam Tan, Nam Thanh, Nam Loc, Xuan Hoa... the Youth Union cadres from the commune to the hamlet have organized for the children to clean up the village roads and alleys, plant and take care of trees at public places such as the hamlet cultural house, the commune People's Committee headquarters... In addition, to educate the children about the spirit of mutual love, the sense of saving, the virtue of filial piety and respect for adults, and sharing difficulties with those around them, the Youth Union chapters from the district to the commune have promoted the movements "Thousands of good deeds", "Small plans", "For the poor", "Local addresses"...

In Quang Trung, Truong Thi, and Trung Do wards, the Standing Committee of the Ward Youth Union also launched a letter writing contest for soldiers working in Truong Sa and Hoang Sa; organized activities to visit and care for children of soldiers on duty in the border and island areas.

However, not all places can organize summer activities for children like the above localities. The main reason is the lack of Youth Union cadres with organizational talent, the lack of enthusiastic people, ready "For beloved juniors". Quy Chau is a mountainous area facing many difficulties due to its terrain, sparse population, economic life is still facing many difficulties, children are not yet properly cared for by their families. Therefore, attracting children to participate in Team activities and youth movements in some communes such as Dien Lam, Chau Nga... is difficult to do. In particular, the main reason is the lack of Youth Union cadres, especially those with talent in gathering young people.

The District Youth Union has also issued a document guiding the implementation of summer activities for youth and children, but in Quy Chau, only Tan Lac Town can organize activities for children. And in Tan Lac, only 8/12 Youth Union branches organize regular activities every Saturday evening, the remaining 4 Youth Union branches have not been able to organize yet because there are still no Youth Union cadres with the talent to gather and teach children to sing, dance, and practice Team rituals. Chau Nga Commune Youth Union Secretary, Mr. Ha Van Tuong said: "The biggest difficulty now is creating a movement to attract children, because currently Chau Nga Commune Youth Union does not have any village or hamlet with Youth Union cadres with the ability and talent to teach singing and dancing, let alone the ability to be creative in organizing Youth Union activities". According to Mr. Tuong, if a village gathers 10 to 15 children, the Commune Youth Union Executive Committee will directly go to each place to teach them to sing and dance traditional team songs and organize age-appropriate folk games. Therefore, at most, there are only a few places a month where the children can participate in activities.

In most of the "5 South" areas of Nam Dan district, organizing summer activities for youth and children in the villages is also very difficult to carry out. It is difficult because in these places, children are not very interested in the Young Pioneer movement, and Youth Union cadres have not made efforts to overcome difficulties to find ways to attract and gather children every summer. Every summer, student volunteers (SVTN) from all over the country come to remote areas, carrying the message and spirit "Where there is a need for youth, where there is difficulty, there is youth". Therefore, in most of the remote and mountainous areas, children are taught to read and write, and organized recreational activities during the summer by SVTN brothers and sisters. And this force is the solution to the problem of a lack and weakness of Youth Union cadres every summer. But for the lowland areas, specifically the communes in the "5 Nam" region, Nam Dan district, the SVTN force rarely comes to these communes to strengthen the work of the Youth Union and the Young Pioneers movement, because the reason given by the Secretary of the Nam Dan District Youth Union, Dang Hong Thang, is: "These communes are too close to the city".

Innovating activities in each session is also a solution to attract children to participate in summer activities.

However, this requirement is very difficult to implement when many places still use "roll call" and "comment" as the basis for forcing children to participate. In addition to songs and dances, ceremonial exercises, old games are not very interesting to children, so there needs to be highly interactive group activities such as establishing age-appropriate clubs and teams. Each group or team is in charge of an address that needs help, registering to take care of cultural works, martyrs' cemeteries in the area, and taking care of the elderly and wounded soldiers. These activities need to be assigned alternately, with testing, evaluation, and competition, thus increasing the educational value and creating interest for children.

For children to have a useful summer, and for summer activities for children to be increasingly widespread and go into depth, it requires the concern and spirit of overcoming difficulties of the Youth Union at all levels. This includes training and finding "sources" for Youth Union cadres in blocks and hamlets to "rest" for the following summers.

Article and photos: Thanh Nga