Community Learning Center in Con Cuong: "Teach what is needed"

(Baonghean) -With the goal of creating favorable conditions for people of all ages to study regularly and learn for life; to disseminate knowledge and experience in production, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, in recent years, community learning centers in Con Cuong district have been constantly consolidated and improved in quantity and quality of activities.

Ke Me village, Mau Duc commune has 194 households with 848 people, 100% of the people here live mainly on agricultural production. This is the village with the most illiterate and re-illiterate women in the whole commune. Faced with this situation, the Party Committee and People's Committee of the commune directed the Commune Community Learning Center (CLC) to coordinate with the Education Promotion Association and the primary school to open an illiteracy eradication class right in the village. In order for the class to be effective, the Party Committee and People's Committee of the commune have assigned responsibilities to each specific organization.

In which, the primary school is responsible for professional matters, planning teaching; the commune-level Learning Promotion Center is responsible for investigating needs, mobilizing students, monitoring and helping students; the Learning Promotion Association is responsible for facilities, organizing opening and closing ceremonies, and together with the Learning Promotion Center, mobilizing students to participate in learning. To suit the actual situation, classes are held at night, from 7:30 to 10:30. Students learn basic knowledge from the subjects of Vietnamese, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Environment, Life and Health. Participating in classes like this, students not only learn to read and write but also gain more knowledge in life.

At the Chi Khe Commune Community Learning Center, although operating under difficult conditions, in recent years, the community learning center in the commune has promoted positive results. As a purely agricultural commune, the people's lives are still difficult, so the Center coordinates with all levels, sectors, and organizations to open training courses to transfer science and technology in production and animal husbandry to the people. At the same time, coordinate with the Department of Justice and the District Lawyers Association to organize legal dissemination sessions for the people. From grasping the knowledge through training sessions, farmers in the commune have boldly applied it in practice, contributing to increasing income and stabilizing their lives.

A typical example is the family of Mr. Tran Dinh Loi, Quyet Tien village, Chi Khe commune. His family has more than 6 sao of land for vegetable production. In previous years, the family grew vegetables mainly based on experience, so the productivity was not high. By participating in a training course on growing vegetables according to VietGap, applying science and technology to vegetable production not only ensures the productivity and quality of the products but also brings in higher profits than before. Just counting vegetable growing alone, each year his family has an income of over 60 million VND. In addition, his family also boldly applies science and technology to raising pigs and chickens.

If in 2004 the whole district had only 4 centers, then just 1 year later, 13 communes and towns of the district had established community learning centers run by teachers. In recent years, Con Cuong district has also had many solutions to promote and create opportunities for people to learn for life and move towards building a learning society. Participating in activities at the commune community learning center, people can learn and learn about topics close to life such as: Health education, instructions on fire prevention and fighting at home and in the community, instructions on livestock breeding, farming, and culinary techniques for the elderly, environmental sanitation at home and in the public, life skills for children, etc.

With the motto "teach what is needed", "learn what is needed", in recent years, the district's CLCs have effectively implemented 4 topics: Legal education, science and technology transfer, improving the quality of life, and cultural education. Through coordination with all levels of the association, project programs such as Project VIE/028, Program 134, 135, organizing competitions and seminars such as: spring rice planting competition, weaving competition, seminars on protecting forest resources, clean water...; organizing training sessions on transferring science and technology on production, animal husbandry or organizing thematic activities to exchange experiences in brocade weaving and information technology classes... have created conditions for ethnic people in the area to gain new knowledge about production, animal husbandry, and apply the knowledge they have learned to improve labor productivity. In 2012-2013 alone, the whole district had over 48 thousand people participating in the training. In addition, the Community Training Centers also coordinate with the commune cultural committee, youth union, women's union of villages and schools to organize art programs, volleyball, and shuttlecock throwing... to celebrate major holidays, creating a vibrant atmosphere in the villages.

However, in addition to the achieved results, the activities of the Community Learning Centers of Con Cuong district have encountered many difficulties. Due to the characteristics of a mountainous district, over 80% of the population mainly depends on agricultural production, so in general, the material life of people in many villages and hamlets in the district is still lacking. The facilities of the centers are still limited. Currently, 13/13 centers do not have a library; only 5/13 centers have their own working rooms (Lang Khe, Chau Khe, Mon Son, Thach Ngan, Don Phuc), the rest share working rooms with departments and offices in the commune. Some centers do not have reference materials, especially in remote communes such as Binh Chuan, Don Phuc, Mau Duc, Luc Da, etc.

It can be seen that the model of the Con Cuong district community health centers is increasingly effective, bringing practical benefits to the people. In order for the model to be increasingly effective, it is necessary to have more attention and investment from all levels and sectors in terms of facilities as well as organizing cultural classes and training to transfer science and technology to the people.

Bao Ngoc - Minh Hanh

(Con Cuong Radio)