Millions of people across Vietnam headed to their local secondary schools yesterday to join the World's Biggest Lesson, part of the 2008 Global Action Week for Education from April 21 to 27.
Students from Thang Long Secondary School in Hanoi take part In the world's biggest lesson. (Photo: VNN)The global event aims to break the Guinness World Record for the most amount of people, albeit in different classrooms, to be taught the same lesson at the same time. Objectives of this year's campaign are to recognise the millions of people who have missed out on quality education because of their individual circumstances such as disability, poverty, ethnicity, gender, geographical location, being orphaned or exploited as child labourers.
Topping the meetings in Vietnam was a forum at Hanoi's Thang Long junior secondary school between students and representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training, international organisations including UNESCO, UNICEF, ActionAid, ChildFund and PLan.
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien said the Party and State promised the international community that all Vietnamese children of school age would get quality primary and junior secondary school education by 2015.
Problems remained because many areas were very remote, Hien said. Some poor families couldn't afford to send their children to school and disabled kids were losing out on an education.
"We will get to the bottom of the reason why many kids drop out of school. Then, we will work with the local community to take practical and effective measures to help kids return to school."
UNESCO representative Vibeke Jensen said Vietnam had made major progress in getting children into school, but challenges remained. Despite successes in primary education, almost one child in every ten did not receive lower-secondary education in Vietnam.
Jensen said many children still did not have access to quality education. Some because of physical or mental disabilities, others were excluded because of their ethnicity, gender, where they lived or the fact that their mother tongue was not Vietnamese. Many were also denied access to education for economic reasons.
"Mother tongue education is key to quality education and to preventing minority children from dropping out of school," Jensen said.
In the lead up to the event, children throughout Vietnam participated in a series of activities including research, a drawing and writing contest, art performances and youth forums to boost local leaders' awareness on educational issues in their areas.
Pupil's documentary
At the Hanoi school event, Nguyen A Len, a 7th grade pupil, presented a documentary film he made about two brothers who had dropped out of school to help their parents with the family business. Len said the two boys, one fourteen and the other fifteen years old, had missed study for several years to help out in their family's small restaurant of noodles and grilled meat in Ngoc Khanh Street. "I don't know why they gave up school but I think they will certainly be at a disadvantage when they grow up," Len said. Dang Thi Ngoc Ha, a teacher at the school, said it was necessary to reinforce the importance of study to children. In the city, many children went to school But didn't really understand why. "I hope the education sector will reduce the study workload as soon as possible to help children develop strong constitutions as well as mental power," Ha said. Nguyen Tram Anh, a 9th grader, said the day was a good opportunity for the education sector to continue thinking about the current school drop-out rate and seek proper measures to help drop-outs get back to class. "I think that pupils drop out of school because they think it's boring. History subject is one example. There's too much to learn and teachers get students to remember just by drilling," the student said. The ministry had done a lot at provincial level to support poor and disadvantaged students as well as stop pupils from dropping-out of school and encourage those who had left to go back. Chairman of the ministry's Education for All National Co-ordination Board Nguyen Van Ngu said. The Government also praised students from disadvantaged backgrounds who make outstanding achievements, he added. "Their findings and recommendations will be presented as a dossier to the ministry for review."
At the talks, children took on the role of teacher in educating politicians and dignitaries on issues in Vietnam related to the quality of education and drop-out rate. Children performed plays and held an exhibition of their work to highlight these issues.
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) was founded in 1999. It aims to promote education as a basic human right and bring together Civil Society organisations, NGOs, teacher unions and child rights activists to mobilise public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfil their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people, particularly children, women and all disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society.
(VNN)
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