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T
oday Nguyen Thi Quynh has to
wake up earlier than usual as
she has to travel up into the
high mountains to meet Tay
ethnic residents. Quynh, a 34-year-old
Kinh (Vietnam’s dominant ethnic group)
is a teacher at Phuong Thien Secondary
School, in Ha Giang province.
The school has 180 pupils, 60 per
cent of whom are from the Tay minority
group with the remainder an assort-
ment of other minorities. Nearly all the
pupils are from poor families living on
maize and rice cultivation.
“Our pupils are dropping out. I have
to go to their houses to persuade them
and their parents that education is nec-
essary,” Quynh says while sitting on her
motorbike ready for the journey. She
rides along rough slopes full of holes
and dotted with rocks. Following this is
a long walk through the forest before
finally reaching her pupils’ village.
Quynh visits pupils’ families every
month to ask them to come back to
school. “I have got used to it,” she says.
“Many times I have to wake up very
early to go and pick them up from their
home for fear that they will drop out.”
For many of the pupils’ parents,
schooling simply means less cassava
and maize for their family. They think
that only working in the fields will pro-
vide food. As a result, once the chil-
dren have learned to read and write
it is seen as more than enough. Thus,
the sight of teachers visiting their pu-
pils is commonplace in many places in
Vietnam, especially in remote moun-
tainous areas.
Set on a mountain side in the cen-
tral province of Nghe An Huoi Xen near
the border between Vietnam and Laos
is a remote village. Here, Yen Na Prima-
ry School is home to about 20 pupils.
The school includes only two barely-
equipped classrooms made of wood
and roofed with leaves. A broken drum
46
timeout
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
In Vietnam’s more remote provinces, not every child has access to education be-
cause their family’s more immediate need for food comes first. Moreover, some
young people face great dangers on their journey to school. However, thanks
to the philanthropy of various corporations, the lives of many of these young
people are improving. Words by
Khoi Nguyen
Enabling education