Back-to-school motivation

Challenges of school drop-outs are often a common concern of teachers from primary to high schools in mountainous remote areas and ethnic minority communities after a summer vacation.

 

These days, many teachers in Khanh Vinh District are busy with home visits to persuade students to get back to school in a new academic year. Every day, they knock on students' doors or even follow them to mountain fields and share the farm work with them to build relationships. Teachers must know their language, understand their customs and create a good impression on the students and their families for effective persuasive communication, says Nguyen Minh Hung, Principal of Cao Van Be Junior High School, Khanh Phu Commune.

 

 

 

Since 2016, Khanh Hoa People’s Committee has invested in building school kitchens to improve facilities for 2 classes/ day and day boarding and full day boarding at primary to high schools, colleges and universities in Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh. Lunches worth VND290,000/month/child are served to 3-5 year-olds at 100% of nursery schools in Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh. Ethnic minority children are provided school grants for their study and daily expenses every month. Khanh Hoa Province has also founded Khanh Vinh Boarding Ethnic Minority High School and Khanh Son Boarding Vocational High School.

 

The challenges that contribute to dropping take a coalition of teachers, authorities and parents to tackle. One of the reasons for school drop-outs is difficult circumstances, including financial hardship. Therefore, some students want to quit schooling to help their parents to earn a living. Besides, schools are quite far from home. The division has directed schools to boost learning motivation and remind students of the back-to school day, according to Tran Van Trung, Vice-Chief of Khanh Vinh Division of Education & Training.

 

Motivating students to go to school is one of the key educational tasks in Khanh Son. Since early August, the division has directed schools to cooperate with local authorities to boost propaganda and pay home visits to convince parents to send their children to school as scheduled, helping students to improve their school performance with revision and retake as a proactive method to keep them from dropping out in the new school year. So far, schools have basically completed the Vietnamese language teaching program for ethnic minority children before entering the first grade, says Nguyen Tan Lam, Chief of Khanh Son District Division of Education & Training.

 

In spite of much endeavor in learning motivation, there are still some dropouts whenever the summer vacation ends. Khanh Hoa Department of Education & Training will continue directing localities to make grater effort in getting kids ready and excited for the academic year ahead after the summer break, according to the leader of Khanh Hoa Department of Education & Training.

 

 

Thanh Truc

Translated by N.T