'Happy School' in Chau Hoi (Quy Chau)
(Baonghean.vn) - “My school now has many boarding rooms, so I can stay at school and don't have to travel far to school anymore. The school also has a dining hall, clean toilets, and lots of books to read, so I really like going to school.”
These were the innocent and happy words of Nguyen Viet The, a 5th-grade student, at the closing ceremony of the "Happy School" project and the "Reading Culture Promotion Day" recently held at Chau Hoi Ethnic Boarding Primary School, Quy Chau district.
In a lively and joyful atmosphere, ethnic minority students from this mountainous district joined volunteers from TH Group in participating in many fun games.
Happy School
As a school facing many difficulties in terms of material resources, in previous years the school was unable to provide boarding facilities for its students. "Many times I felt so sorry for the children, but I didn't know what to do. They are so young, their homes are far from the school, and the roads are mountainous and difficult to navigate. Therefore, arriving late for school, or even arriving with scraped hands and muddy clothes from falls, is very common," a teacher shared.
The 2023-2024 school year marks the second year that the "Happy School" project has been implemented in collaboration with VSF, and the first year it has been implemented in Nghe An province and at Chau Hoi Ethnic Boarding Primary School.
The Happy School Project is a long-term project implemented by VSF since the 2022-2023 school year in the provinces of Lao Cai and Son La. In the 2023-2024 school year, the project continued to bring meaningful activities to Nghe An province with the support of TH Group and Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
The project is a comprehensive solution aimed at contributing to improving facilities and enhancing the capacity of teachers and students in schools in disadvantaged areas. This is one of the ongoing efforts of the Foundation for Vietnamese Stature to contribute to national target programs and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Besides allocating 380 million VND to build new kitchens, bathrooms, and install televisions in classrooms, the project also organized 19 training sessions and one communication event for students and teachers, covering topics such as: communication skills using drawings and wall posters; gender equality for students; positive discipline and gender sensitivity in teachers' teaching.
With these contents, the project implemented by the Foundation for Vietnamese Stature (VSF) in coordination with the Education and Training Department of Quy Chau district is considered to have brought a happy and enriching learning environment to ethnic minority students in the highlands.
The training sessions, implemented for the first time, covered essential and relevant knowledge such as proper nutrition, oral hygiene; accident and injury prevention, drowning prevention, and first aid for children; and identifying and supporting children with ADHD. The experts conducting these training sessions were lecturers and doctors from Hanoi Medical University, within the framework of the community medicine cooperation program between the Foundation for Vietnamese Stature (VSF) and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Hanoi Medical University. Over 1,000 students, parents, and teachers benefited from these meaningful communication and training activities.
In addition, the project also awarded 20 scholarships totaling 60 million VND to students from disadvantaged families affected by storms and floods, and donated books to school libraries in the area. Ms. Le Thi Huyen, Principal of Chau Hoi Ethnic Boarding Primary School, happily stated: "The project's activities will help teachers improve their capacity and learn new skills to enhance teaching effectiveness; at the same time, it will create a healthy and beneficial playground for students, encouraging their active participation and self-reliance; and the students will also learn in a happier environment."
"The Foundation for Vietnamese Stature has implemented numerous capacity-building training courses for teachers and students in the school. This not only contributes to improving the quality of teaching and learning for both teachers and students, but also plays a guiding role in planning teaching for the following years. In particular, thanks to the support in facilities from the project, the school is now able to organize boarding for students starting in the 2023-2024 school year," said teacher Le Thi Huyen.
The Happy School Project is a new project model of the Foundation for Vietnamese Stature and began implementation in the 2022-2023 school year. According to Mr. Ngo Van Tu - Director of NASU Sugar Company (a subsidiary of TH Group): In the second year of implementation, in addition to upgrading the facilities of dilapidated schools, we have collaborated with new partners to bring useful, practical training courses that are more relevant to the teaching and learning needs of all teachers, students, and parents; contributing to improving the quality of teaching and learning, so that every day at school is a happy day.
"Choosing to implement the project in Quy Chau district - where NASU Company has its sugarcane raw material area - also demonstrates our social responsibility towards the socio-economic development of the locality."
“Through the project's activities, we hope to contribute to creating a safer, healthier, and fairer learning environment for both teachers and students, where children have the best conditions for comprehensive development in both intellect and physical strength, contributing to the future development of our homeland. We are delighted to receive positive feedback, high praise from the school, and acceptance from the students, thus achieving the project's goals,” a VSF representative shared.
Reading Culture Promotion Day
This year, on the occasion of Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day (April 21st), VSF, in coordination with the Department of Education and Training of Quy Chau district, also sponsored 5,256 books worth 250 million VND for 15 primary schools in the district.
Specifically, the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Children's Rights sponsored 223 books on positive discipline for children, guidance on childcare for parents, children's rights, and psychological support for children who have been sexually abused. Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank, in addition to funding the project, also donated 45 copies of the book "Clever Money Management - Avoiding Worries" on personal financial management to the schools.
According to representatives from the Quy Chau District Department of Education and Training, 5,717 primary school students throughout the district will benefit from this book donation. The books donated to primary schools were carefully selected, covering a wide range of topics, providing students and teachers with practical and useful knowledge about science, nature, society, positive discipline, and personal financial management, especially topics related to the project's activities such as gender and gender equality, positive discipline, school counseling, and happy schools.
“The donated bookshelves will help diversify the book selection, making students more enthusiastic about visiting the library. This also provides a foundation for schools in the area to implement activities such as reading time to promote reading habits among students, contributing to nurturing reading habits and cultivating new knowledge for students. This is the foundation for developing the reading movement in each school unit, contributing to creating a reading culture in general throughout the district's education sector,” a representative from the District Education and Training Department said.
At the recent closing ceremony of the Happy School and "Reading Culture Promotion Day" held at Chau Hoi Ethnic Boarding Primary School, students enthusiastically participated in dozens of fun and engaging games. A competition on media communication using drawings, wall newspapers, and comics was organized with the participation of 16 students from 5 clubs.
The works focus on reflecting on key themes such as school violence, personal and environmental hygiene, gender equality, etc. Besides games that encourage physical activity such as tug-of-war, sack racing, and blindfolded drum beating, VSF also organizes many other games to help students learn about gender equality, clean water, hygiene, and the environment, proper nutrition, and to promote a reading culture.
“The reading movement is one of the criteria that receives a lot of attention. Since 100% of our students are from ethnic minority groups, building a reading culture within the school is crucial to helping them improve their Vietnamese reading skills. With the books donated from the project, we will continue to promote and expand the reading movement. In addition to the school's main library, we will set up small libraries in classrooms. Weekly, library staff will coordinate with homeroom teachers to allow students to take turns borrowing books from the library in their classrooms to read at the beginning of class, during recess, or during extracurricular activities,” said teacher Le Thi Huyen.
With a mission to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that Vietnam has committed to with the United Nations, the Foundation for Vietnamese Stature always implements its programs and activities based on the principles of respect and fairness.
Some typical activities related to promoting equality are implemented through projects such as: Happy Schools, Gender and Gender Equality with Young Journalists, Crimson Sail, For Mothers and Babies - For the Stature of Vietnam, Female Journalists Taking Action to Reduce Plastic Waste and Plastic Pollution,...