Good news from schools in the remote areas of Nghe An
In the mountainous district of Ky Son, in previous years, after the opening ceremony, many students were absent from school, but this school year, students have basically attended all classes. Local data shows that in the 2023-2024 school year, 154 students dropped out of school to get married; but in the 2024-2025 school year, there were only 8 cases of early marriage...
The Principal's "Pleasant Headache"
In mid-September, teacher Trinh Hoang Tuan - Principal of Muong Long 1 Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Muong Long Commune, Ky Son District), was having a "headache" coming up with a plan to arrange classes for students, because the number of students for the 2024-2025 school year exceeded the school's plan by dozens of students. "The classrooms up here are typically a bit cramped, with 30 students in a class already being cramped. But now, there are classes with up to 32 students," said teacher Tuan.
However, according to teacher Tuan, this is a “pleasant headache”, because the school is very happy that students not only attended school fully from the opening day, but also far exceeded the plan. If in previous school years, in Muong Long in particular and Ky Son district in general, teachers still had to regularly visit students’ homes to encourage them to go to school in the first weeks after the opening, then on the first day of this new school year, not a single student was absent. “This is a great joy for those of us who work in education in the highlands,” teacher Tuan added enthusiastically.
To make sure students go to school regularly, firstfirst day of schoolFor exactly 3 weeks, all teachers in the school had to end their summer vacation to return to school to start work. "In most years, most teachers take leave until mid-August, but this school year 2024-2025, all teachers had to return to school at the beginning of August," said teacher Tuan, adding that in the first week of arriving at school, the teachers were responsible for cleaning the school and facilities. In the second week, the teachers were divided into groups and went to each village to disseminate education, while their main task was to propagate and mobilize parents to send their children to class on schedule.
“We sent a document to the local government asking for support, sending commune officials to accompany teachers to the villages. You could say they went to each house, ate and slept with the people to propagate and mobilize,” said Mr. Tuan. During this time, the school also opened its doors, allowing students to go to the library and the schoolyard to play. Not letting the school down, on the first day of school, not a single student was absent at this school.
Similar to Muong Long, in Keng Du commune (Ky Son), most students in schools also attended school on the opening day. This is considered the most remote commune in Nghe An, with a distance of nearly 300km from Vinh city. "If compared to statistics of previous years, it is very surprising, because students attended school on the opening day. But for the school, we are not surprised. Because to achieve that, right from the summer days, the school and the local government had to take a very strong campaign", said teacher Nguyen Tat Chinh - Principal of Keng Du Ethnic Boarding School.
In Na Ngoi commune (Ky Son), according to Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, from the opening day, all students of schools in the area attended school. Not only that, Na Ngoi 1 Kindergarten increased by 10 children compared to the school's plan. "They are all children whose parents work far away in the South. Every year, the children follow their parents there, sometimes only returning to school during Tet. But in the 2024 - 2025 school year, since August, the commune has assigned specific tasks to each cadre, coordinated with schools to go to homes to mobilize and propagate, so more students attend school," said Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan.
Deeply reduce child marriage
Mr. Pham Viet Phuc - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ky Son district said that not only in Muong Long or Na Ngoi communes, schools in Ky Son district this school year have had stable student numbers since the opening day. Many schools even increased dozens of students compared to the plan.
“In addition, there is another joy that in Ky Son district, from the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year to the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, there were only 8 cases of junior high school students dropping out of school to get married. Meanwhile, this number during the Lunar New Year 2023 was 154 cases,” Mr. Phuc said, adding that these results were achieved thanks to the participation of the entire political system.
In previous years, the number of workers in Ky Son going to work in other provinces was very high, many of whom brought their school-age children with them. Therefore, even though it was the first day of school,Many children have not yet been able to return to school.
To solve this situation, on the first day of summer vacation, the leaders of the People's Committee of Ky Son district issued a directive to create conditions for students to have fun activities during the summer in the locality, while ensuring the rate of students going to school in the 2024-2025 school year as planned. In particular, the leaders of the People's Committee of the district requested the Chairmen of the People's Committees of communes and principals of schools to propagate and mobilize people to understand and ensure the rights of children in addition to studying during the school year, they have the right to have fun activities during the summer days in the locality.
The People's Committee of Ky Son district also requested the communes to coordinate with the Youth Union and the Young Pioneer Council to organize local summer recreational activities to attract students, while creating conditions for them to have many useful activities during the 2024 summer vacation.
During the summer vacation, schools are encouraged to create conditions for students to use the unit's facilities such as libraries, gyms, and playgrounds so that students can review, read books, read newspapers, practice, and have fun.
School principals are also assigned to coordinate with local authorities to grasp the number of students who have left with their families in the recent past, and at the same time, clearly understand the reasons for the move, and have a plan to encourage their parents to return to their hometowns before the first day of school to prepare for the new school year.
In addition, in early August, Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Ky Son district continued to issue a document requesting communes and towns to organize a review of the number of children visiting parents and relatives outside the district and have a plan to propagate and mobilize people to bring their children back to their localities to prepare for the school year and opening ceremony...
Regarding the issue of child marriage, Mr. Pham Viet Phuc said that before the summer break, schools will hand over students to communes, towns, and villages for unified management, and coordinate with the youth union branches of the villages, communes, and towns to organize Team and Youth Union activities for students to participate in. Students and parents will sign a commitment not to drop out of school and not to let child marriage happen. When there is a change in the number of students after the summer, the local government will advise the local government to establish a mobilization committee, go to each family to collect information, find out the causes to have solutions to support, help, and mobilize students to go to school.
In addition, the Party Executive Committee of Ky Son district recently issued a Resolution on strengthening the Party's leadership over Party committees and authorities at all levels in the work of preventing and reducing child marriage and incestuous marriage in Ky Son district in the period of 2024-2030. The goal is to strive to fundamentally prevent and reduce this situation by 2030. From then on, there will be no more child marriage or incestuous marriage in the area./.