Final Episode: Persistence with Long-Term Solutions
Literacy classes have been opened by many departments and sectors in recent times with the hope of improving people’s knowledge, helping people have more opportunities for economic and social development. However, the work of “eradicating” illiteracy or “eradicating” re-illiteracy still faces many difficulties and hardships.
My Ha - Tien Hung• November 20, 2024
Literacy classes have been opened by many departments and sectors in recent times with the hope of improving people’s knowledge, helping people have more opportunities for economic and social development. However, the work of “eradicating” illiteracy or “eradicating” re-illiteracy still faces many difficulties and hardships.
Teacher Ly Ba Cua is one of the teachers who has participated in the work of eliminating illiteracy in the Education sector of Tuong Duong district for many years. Among them, there are classes organized systematically by the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Education and Training of Tuong Duong district. But there are also classes that teacher Cua organized spontaneously at the schools where he used to work.
I have worked for 15 years in Huu Khuong commune - an oasis of Tuong Duong district. There I often teach to help parents in the village know how to calculate. During the teaching process, I often tell many funny stories and from these stories people see the role of literacy, reading and writing...”.
Teacher Ly Ba Cua
In Xa Luong commune, where teacher Ly Ba Cua is working, he is an example of overcoming difficulties. Nearly 20 years ago, he was one of the first few Mong students from Na Be village to pass the high school exam and then go to university.
Teacher Cua said: "In the years 2001 - 2006, people in the village only cared about going to the forest to cut pine trees, cut down timber and haul them back to get money. My family had 6 siblings but no one finished secondary school. I finished school, passed the exam and finished high school at the district's boarding school but my parents did not know what grade I was in. They also never attended parent-teacher meetings for their children. Many times when I came home from school, my father told me not to go to school anymore. But I did not want to be uneducated. After finishing school, I went to study for 1 year and then studied at the Faculty of Primary Education of Hanoi National University of Education. As soon as I graduated, I was called back to teach by the Head of the District's Internal Affairs Department, because at that time, the hydroelectric reservoir had just been relocated, many teachers asked to move downstream so there was a great shortage of teachers."
As a teacher, doing the job of teaching letters and people, teacher Cua often thinks simply "I work in education to teach people to read and write". With the foundation of a teacher who was trained systematically at Hanoi Pedagogical University, in the process of teaching literacy, teacher Cua always has creative teaching methods to make his students excited to go to school. Teaching letters is often done in parallel with the mobilization work.
Talking about this, Mr. Cua added: "Not only in the past, but now many ethnic minorities do not pay attention to studying. Many Mong families still have the view that girls are other people's children, and when they are 15 or 16 years old, they will get married."
Teacher Cua's wife is also Mong, growing up in Cha Lang village, Huu Khuong commune, Tuong Duong district. When he got married, teacher Cua was 26 years old but his wife was only 17. Before that, partly because of difficult circumstances, partly because of old beliefs, his wife was not allowed to go to school and was illiterate. Up to now, he has encouraged his wife to go to school many times to eliminate illiteracy but the campaign has been... unsuccessful!
After many years of teaching literacy classes, according to teacher Cua, the most worrying thing today is not only the increasing risk of re-illiteracy among the elderly, but also the young people being "indifferent" to learning. Even at his house, besides his wife who is illiterate and has not yet returned to school, his children only studied halfway and then dropped out.
Colleague of teacher Cua, teacher Cut Hong Quan is also a Khmu teacher with nearly 30 years of experience working in the education sector. Working in the highlands, what he is concerned about is not only the work of eliminating illiteracy with elderly students, but also the fact that many young students are no longer enthusiastic about going to school.
Teacher Quan confided: “Children nowadays only study until secondary school and then drop out to work as factory workers, to earn money. No one wants to go to school to have a job, “no matter how big or small” like us before. I am a teacher, have 3 children, all of whom are from the 9X generation, but I am helpless with my children. My first child was born in 1993, finished 9th grade and dropped out to get married. My second child, finished 9th grade, also said he didn’t like studying anymore and also got married. My third child finished 12th grade and went to Quang Binh to study Intermediate Medicine for 3 months, but the groom’s family told him to drop out to get married. They don’t want to study, so I have to accept it, even though I really want them to go to school.”
Nghe An is the largest province in the country with a population of over 3.4 million people, of which the ethnic minority and mountainous population accounts for 36.3% of the total population of the province. Due to unfavorable living and production conditions, the socio-economic development and life of the ethnic minorities in the mountainous areas still face many difficulties. This is also one of the reasons why illiteracy and re-illiteracy still occur in Nghe An province.
According to the Department of Education and Training, by the end of 2023, the rate of illiterate population aged 15-25 in the whole province accounted for 0.1% (499/488,948 people). Meanwhile, this rate for the age group of 15-35 was 0.3% (3,664/1,171,389 people) and for the age group of 15-60 was 0.7% (16,289/2,280,019). The synthesis also shows that the number of illiterate people, mostly in mountainous districts, is concentrated mainly in poor and near-poor households. In addition to illiteracy, re-illiteracy is occurring because currently many students participate in literacy classes, after learning to read (mainly women, old age), so after illiteracy eradication there is no environment and conditions to practice, so there is a risk of becoming illiterate again.
Previously, although every year the Nghe An Department of Education and Training issued documents directing and guiding the task of eliminating illiteracy to the Departments of Education and Training and went to educational institutions to develop plans to open classes, carry out professional work, inspect and evaluate. However, because the majority of ethnic minorities did not properly perceive the role, position and importance of learning to eliminate illiteracy, they were not proactive in studying. Mobilizing students and maintaining the number of students attending classes regularly encountered many difficulties, because the majority of students were female, of working age, and often worked far from home and away from their villages during the farming season. In addition, because the number of illiterate people was scattered in remote villages, it was very difficult to organize classes.
It is also necessary to note that, although the work of eliminating illiteracy has been paid attention to, the awareness of the work of eliminating illiteracy of the Steering Committee in some localities is still limited, so there is no plan to direct and invest in sustainable development. Some localities have not paid attention or have not directed strongly enough to investigate and count illiterates and re-illiterates. The implementation process is due to the weak professional skills and responsibilities of some cadres and teachers, leading to some inaccurate information about the subjects of investigation and unclear evidence about the subjects of investigation. Some places consider this work to be implemented for many years, so some cadres have subjective thoughts and are not yet urging and determined in the implementation process.
Regarding the work of eliminating illiteracy, at the end of 2023, in Vinh city, the Ministry of Education and Training organized a workshop on the current situation and solutions to improve the quality of illiteracy eradication work for people in ethnic minority areas in the period of 2023-2030. Through the discussion, delegates pointed out many reasons leading to the difficulties in eliminating illiteracy. In addition to the above reasons, the current illiteracy eradication work is not effective partly due to low state budget investment in illiteracy eradication work, and unclear policies for teachers and participants in illiteracy eradication work.
In reality, the funding for literacy work is mainly from the National Target Program 1719, but mainly for learners. Meanwhile, funding for teachers and participants in literacy work must be used from the provincial budget. Therefore, localities, especially provinces with difficult socio-economic conditions, lack funds to implement literacy work.
In Nghe An, to facilitate the work of eliminating illiteracy, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution 10/2023/NQ-HDND on Regulations on a number of contents and expenditure levels for the work of eliminating illiteracy and universalizing education to implement the Project on building a learning society for the period 2021-2030 in the area. In particular, expenditures to support people in ethnic minority areas to participate in illiteracy eradication training are at the rate of 1.8 million VND/person/program. In addition, expenditures to support the process of organizing classes, propaganda, mobilizing illiterate and re-illiterate people to attend illiteracy eradication classes and expenditures for teachers, guest teachers or volunteers. However, during the implementation process, there are still some shortcomings...
According to the discussion of Mr. Ho Sy Quy - Department of Education and Training of Que Phong district, the Literacy Eradication Program is usually implemented in 5 semesters and must complete the course to receive support. However, due to the long time, the number of students "dropped out" and the number of people eligible for benefits is not much. In 2023, in the first semester, the whole Que Phong district opened 7 classes with 165 students. But in the second semester, 1 class and 75 students were reduced compared to the assigned plan.
From the above difficulties, Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - Head of the Department of Political Ideology - Continuing Education - Department of Education and Training said that the sector is simultaneously implementing many solutions, especially strengthening coordination with related departments and branches such as the Fatherland Front, Youth Union, Women's Union, Farmers' Association, Veterans' Association, Education Promotion Association, Border Guard, village elders, and village chiefs all play an active role in supporting the mobilization of illiterate people of school age to go to school, maintain class size; mobilize illiterate and re-illiterate people to attend literacy classes.
In addition, the arrangement of classes is organized flexibly at times such as on weekends, at night, between labor and production seasons, when students are free... In the teaching process, we choose people who are passionate and love the profession, giving priority to teachers who are local, know the language of the people, understand local customs and practices, and implement policies well for teachers and students.
Recognizing that eradicating illiteracy and re-illiteracy is a long-term, difficult task, we teach according to the motto "holding hands and showing work", requiring teachers to illustrate lessons closely following the real life and work of learners, helping learners to easily understand, remember for a long time and easily apply and apply to daily life. At the same time, we must regularly motivate learners with many creative measures to create interest and excitement for learners.