Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam - Oxfam Blogs

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Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam 108 Family - School relations The relations between families and schools have been improving, thanks to teachers’ enthusiasm, and the improved understanding of the local cadres and parents on the importance of education. Teachers say that attendance at parents’ meetings is over 90% at pre-school and primary schools, and 90% for lower secondary schools in lowlying communes and 70-80% in mountainous communes. At Ban Lien - Lao Cai, parents meetings have been combined with the distribution of students’ allowances or market day, which has improved the attendance rate. The development of the communications systems have also enabled better contact between teachers and students’ families. However, in ethnic minority mountainous communes, the relationship between families and schools is weaker (Table 6. 4). TABLE 6.4. Parents’ feedbacks on family - school relations, 2011 Commune Number of attendance at schools meetings last year Regularly receiving Reprehensive board can information about reflect the 3 2 1 time No the students’ parent’s wishes times times performance (%) (%) Thuan Hoa 60 33 7 0 71 56 Ban Lien 50 43 7 0 23 33 Thanh Xuong 65 32 3 0 53 32 Luong Minh 19 42 39 0 19 3 Duc Huong 18 61 21 0 50 25 Xy 6 40 54 0 15 38 Cu Hue 64 33 3 0 39 57 Phuoc Dai 24 48 12 16 21 31 Phuoc Thanh 11 39 28 22 28 28 Thuan Hoa 35 54 11 0 42 42 Average 36 42 19 3 36 36 SOURCE: Households interviews The role of Parents’ Representative Boards is not highly valued. Table 6.4 shows that the proportion of households who think that the boards reflect their wishes is highest in Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang and Cu Hue - Dak Lak, but is still only 60%. Most households think the boards are only formal. Some even think that the boards representing the better off parents, and have little relevance to poor households. Cost of education Parents in mountainous areas appreciate the State’s support for their children’s’ education, particularly free schooling, free books and notebooks, learning aids, and cash transfers. More than 80% of households in mountainous areas receive support. Schools in mountainous areas do not often expect cash contributions from parents, but often require small in-kind contributions (such as rice and wood for semi-boarding students). High extra costs are causing difficulties for parents in low-lying communes dominated by the Kinh (Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, Cu Hue - Dak
Five-year Synthesis Report Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam Lak). A significant number of parents “disapprove” of the requested contributions (12% in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, 25% in Duc Huong - Ha Tinh and 45% in Cu Hue - Dak Lak). Demanded contributions are high for schools that are looking to reach national standards. Whilst many contributions are not mandatory, most parents think that if they do not pay their children will not receive equal treatment. 109 The rising cost of education at upper secondary level and above is becoming a burden for the poor, in both the low-lying areas and the ethnic minority mountainous areas. In suburban areas, with a mixture of Kinh and ethnic minorities, contributions of 1 - 2 million VND/year (excluding the cost of extra classes) is a burden for poor households. In mountainous communes, upper secondary students have to go to district centres for education. Many students have to pay for accommodation as schools lack semi-boarding facilities. Monthly living costs can be as much as 1,000,000 VND/month (excluding school fees and rice brought from home). As a result secondary school students in ethnic minority mountainous areas tend to be those from well off families. Most families who send their children to college or university have to take out loans. In Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, students going to Vinh City for University spend about 12-16 million VND/year or about 20 -25 million VND if studying in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Some families with children at university are often categorized as poor so that they can receive preferential loans. Extra classes Extra classes are popular at better off communes. In low-lying communes near urban areas (Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, Cu Hue - Dak Lak, Duc Huong - Ha Tinh) approximately 50% of households have children attending extra classes (more than 80% in Duc Huong Ha Tinh). Students often study maths, physics, chemistry and foreign languages at 20,000 - 30,000 VND/session two or three times a week. Parents are afraid that without such sessions “children cannot get enough knowledge”. Some parents think that their children will not receive proper attention from their teachers if they do not attend the extra classes. In the specially disadvantaged ethnic minority mountainous areas, children often follow schools’ extra programmes. Teachers supplement the main curriculum with additional classes for struggling students and Vietnamese language sessions for ethnic minority students (Xy- Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai - Ninh Thuan and Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan). In Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, after prolonged flooding when students had to stay at home teachers provided extra classes so that students can catch up with others. 6.3. Suggestions for improving educational service Table 6.5 shows that most parents give priority to facilities and teaching aids, especially in ethnic minority mountainous communes (Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang, Ban Lien - Lao Cai, Luong Minh - Nghe An, Xy - Quang Tri). Improving relations between schools and families is also highly valued. Reducing or removing contributions, especially extra fees, are mentioned in the Kinh dominated low-lying areas (Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, Cu Hue - Dak Lak, Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh). In ethnic minority mountainous communes most interviewees focused on removing contributions for poor students. Households did not comment much on the curriculum, content of education, or quality of teaching. Most households found the quality of provided education “Highly satisfactory” or “Satisfactory”. However, in ethnic minority mountainous communes people are not used to being asked about the quality of education or other public services so their responses should be treated with caution.
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PARTICIPATORY POVERTY MONITORING IN
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PREFACE 1 7 In early 2007, Viet Nam
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ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS 10 ActionAi
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12 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The last five
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14 and improve monitoring and evalu
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16 TABLE 1. The monitoring points C
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18 transparency, and accountability
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20 TABLE 2. Characteristics of the
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Part 1 Poverty Trends and Key Theme
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Participatory poverty monitoring in
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Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam - Oxfam Blogs

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