Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Self-managed councils ofstudents and children’s clubs have been formed in ten schools in the northernmountainous province of Yen Bai from 2015-2018, helping promote children’sparticipation in improving the learning environment quality.
These are outcomes of a project on encouraging the involvementof social and mass organisations and students in increasing quality educationand preserving traditional culture and identities at schools. The project wascarried out from 2015 to 2018 in Van Chan district by the Vietnam Associationfor Protection of Children’s Rights with the support of the EU Delegation toVietnam and the Save the Children.
A dialogue in Hanoi on May 23 heard that theproject, which has come to nine communes of Van Chan district, has impactedmore than 3,000 junior high school students, 4,500 local residents of theH’mong, Dao, Thai and Khomu ethnic minority groups, 300 teachers and managersof the ten targeted schools.
The above-said councils and clubs are the venueswhere children express their opinions on issues of their concern, propose and carryout initiatives regarding the the learning environment and join hands inactivities promoting children’s rights.
Each school has formed a council with 16 members anda club with between 14-16 children. The members were given training onchildren’s rights as well as communication, presentation and planning skills.They were sent to a range of activities like contests, workshops and fieldtrips.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, Chairwoman of the VietnamAssociation for Protection of Children’s Rights, said that over the past threeyears, the project has significantly contributed to changing awareness andactions of local authorities, agencies, children, parents and school managersabout learning environment improvement, especially at day-boarding schools forethnic minority students.
As a result, local authorities have held dialogueswith children to listen to their opinions, while interaction between schoolmanagement and students was improved. Parents also participated more in schoolactivities.
Besides, the project has also helped reformmanagement methods at schools through the introduction of a toolkit to evaluatethe learning environment.
Participants at the dialogue on May 23 agreed that suchmodels should be maintained and replicated to contribute to improving educationquality for ethnic minority students.-VNA
VNA
