Sa Pa: Ethnic minority women learn to read and write to improve their livelihood skills

To facilitate their business, Dao ethnic women in Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province, regularly learn to read, write and use smartphones to surf the internet to search for market information to make a living.

A literacy class for Red Dao women in Lao Cai.

Learn to sell

Every day, Ms. Phan Ta May, in Ban Khoang commune, Sa Pa town, often goes to the Silver Waterfall area to sell goods to tourists . Her goods are mainly agricultural products and local medicinal herbs. To sell her goods, she has to use common language and calculate money for customers. In addition, she also often has to access the Internet by phone to grasp the needs and tastes of customers. Therefore, she still has to attend literacy classes and self-study to be able to read and write fluently.

Ms. May said: “In the past, I went to school, but if I didn’t use it for a long time, I forgot it. Now, when selling goods, you have to know how to read, how to use a phone to sell goods, to know how to invite customers to buy goods. At the same time, you have to know how to introduce each type of product so that customers can understand. Because there are some types of medicinal herbs that I can only explain to customers in my own language, but I don’t know how to speak in common language. Therefore, I have to learn to read and write to find out the names of the goods in common language so that customers can understand. Whenever there is a literacy class, I attend. If there is no class, I have to study by myself. If it is difficult, I ask my children to teach me how to read and write and show me how to use the phone to look online."

Ms. Phan Ta May regularly learns and updates information to serve sales.

According to our records, in the Silver Falls area, there are dozens of women of the Dao and Mong ethnic groups selling agricultural products. Most of them are quite fluent in Mandarin and some of them are also proficient in using smartphones: from using phones to calculate money, providing bank account barcodes for customers to pay for purchases through QR code scanning transactions, to posting product advertising images on social networking platforms.

Mr. Nguyen Van Que, a driver who transports tourists in the Silver Waterfall area, said: “A few years ago, these women did not know how to greet customers in Mandarin, but now they learn and update information very quickly. Everyone can greet customers in Mandarin and use the phone fluently. The reason is that they have to adapt to the market and social trends, so they also have to learn and improve their skills.”

The work of eliminating illiteracy in the highlands of Sa Pa is determined not only to be the task of the Education sector but also an important political task, with the smooth coordination of the Party Committee, the People's Committee, the Fatherland Front Committee and socio-political organizations in the communes and wards. Along with that, the propaganda role of the team of Party cell secretaries, village chiefs and prestigious people is promoted to each house to mobilize ethnic minorities to attend literacy classes and participate in training courses to do business services.

If you don't study, you won't keep up with the trend.

Ms. Hang Thi Xa, in Hoang Lien commune, Sa Pa town, said: “Today, ethnic minority women in Sa Pa have to compete in selling goods, especially in tourist destinations. If you don’t know how to attract customers or advertise your products like others, you won’t be able to sell. Therefore, women who sell goods must learn from experience, learn skills, and especially learn to read and write so they can read and understand information related to the products they are selling.”

Young people learn faster and are more proficient, so they can sell more goods. Older people who cannot keep up have to switch to selling simpler items like vegetables and fruits.

To develop tourism services, Red Dao women in Sa Pa must always update information so as not to fall behind.

Nowadays, ethnic minority women in Sa Pa participate in tourism services quite commonly and become their main occupation. Therefore, the need to learn information, knowledge and skills to develop tourism services is very necessary. Each individual is aware of the need to equip themselves.

Ms. Ly May Pham, President of the Women's Union of Ta Phin Commune, said: "Currently, ethnic minorities in our locality participate in service and tourism activities very commonly. From there, many women realize the importance of studying and updating information for themselves, especially literacy, so they can find information themselves through means such as smartphones. Otherwise, they will not be able to keep up, cannot compete, from there they are conscious of seeking to learn and improve their knowledge."

phunuvietnam.vn

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/sa-pa-phu-nu-dan-toc-thieu-so-hoc-chu-de-nang-cao-ky-nang-muu-sinh-post401953.html