Eliminating illiteracy in ethnic minority and mountainous areas

New steps

Over the past years, in our country, the literacy movement has recorded positive results, especially in eliminating illiteracy among ethnic minorities.

On average, each year, about 30,000 illiterate people aged 15-60 are mobilized to participate in literacy classes and those who are in the middle of grade 4 or 5 participate in post-literacyeducation classes.

In the 2022-2023 school year, the whole country mobilized more than 32,000 people to study literacy classes, an increase of more than 12,000 people compared to the previous school year, contributing to maintaining sustainable achievements in literacy work in Vietnam.

Some localities have mobilized illiterate people to attend literacy classes with encouraging results such as: Ha Giang 5,897 students, Lai Chau 5,176 students, Lao Cai 2,325 students, Yen Bai 2,088 students, Son La 2,303 students, Lang Son 1,269 students, Ho Chi Minh City 1,547 students, Dien Bien 1,416 students, Thua Thien - Hue 1,176 students...

In Vietnam, currently, the rate of people aged 15 - 60 years old who are literate at level 1 and level 2 is 98.85% and 97.29%, respectively. All 63/63 provinces and cities have met the level 1 literacy standards; 48/63 provinces have met the level 2 literacy standards, of which 4 provinces have raised their literacy standards from level 1 to level 2 compared to the 2021 - 2022 school year, including: Phu Yen, Kien Giang , Soc Trang and Quang Nam.

In order to maintain the results of illiteracy eradication and raise the standard of illiteracy eradication from level 1 to level 2, many provinces have mobilized social forces to participate in the work of illiteracy eradication. In which, the Provincial Police, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs coordinate to organize classes to eradicate illiteracy, popularize education, and provide vocational guidance for prisoners in prisons. The Border Guard participates in eradicating illiteracy, consolidating the results of universalizing primary education. The Women's Union participates in improving the quality of education and illiteracy eradication work...

The Department of Education and Training of localities has also directed and guided units assigned to teach illiteracy eradication based on the new Literacy Eradication Program and the guiding documents of the Ministry of Education and Training to develop teaching and learning plans, use the current teaching and learning guidance documents; use available local resources in terms of facilities and equipment of local schools, village cultural houses, community learning centers, etc. to implement the Literacy Eradication Program.

Many challenges remain

Currently, the whole country still has over a million people between the ages of 15 and 60 who are level 1 and level 2 illiterate, mainly ethnic minorities and women.

The results of the survey on the socio-economic situation of 53 ethnic minorities show that there are still many major challenges in eliminating illiteracy among adult ethnic minorities.

Currently, 19.1% of ethnic minorities over 15 years old cannot read or write Vietnamese fluently (equivalent to about 1.89 million people). Some provinces have a very high rate of illiterate people in working age such as: Lai Chau, Ha Giang, Dien Bien, Son La, Bac Can, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Cao Bang, Ninh Thuan, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, An Giang.

Some ethnic minority groups: Ha Nhi, Co Lao, Brau, Mang, Lu, La Hu have over 50% of the population illiterate.

However, many localities cannot mobilize people to go to school to eliminate illiteracy such as: Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Tuyen Quang, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Thuan, Long An, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, Vinh Long, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Tra Vinh, An Giang.

Some other localities still have many illiterate people but mobilize few people to go to literacy classes, including: Tien Giang, Ca Mau, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Thanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan.

Up to now, there are still 15 provinces nationwide that have not met the level 2 literacy standards, including: Quang Ngai, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Dak Nong, Lai Chau, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Yen Bai, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, An Giang and Ca Mau.

Ms. Giang Y Sao, born in 1988, in Cha Day village, Pa Co commune, Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province, confided that although she knew that illiteracy was a disadvantage, she was reluctant to attend literacy classes because she was of working age and the main breadwinner in her family. Moreover, in mountainous areas, ethnic minorities, people living scatteredly, their basic economic situation was still difficult, they worked hard every day to earn a living, and when they came home tired at night, they needed to rest to continue working the next day, so they were no longer enthusiastic about going to class.

This sentiment of Ms. Sao is probably also the common sentiment of ethnic minorities who are currently illiterate.

In addition, in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, there are currently a number of social problems that have a direct impact on illiteracy eradication, such as early marriage, spontaneous migration, illegal border crossing to work abroad, etc.

In mountainous and especially difficult areas, the time for literacy training depends on the season, weather and some customs and practices of the people; some students after completing literacy training become illiterate again due to lack of use...

Continue to reduce the rate of illiteracy effectively and sustainably

To effectively and sustainably reduce the rate of illiteracy, especially in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas plans to allocate over VND 8,480 billion to implement Project 5: Developing education and training to improve the quality of human resources, including Sub-project 1: Innovating activities, consolidating and developing ethnic boarding schools, semi-boarding schools, schools with semi-boarding students and eliminating illiteracy for people in ethnic minority areas.

This is a great concern of the Party and State for the task of eliminating illiteracy for people in general and ethnic minorities in particular.

Circular 55/TT-BTC dated August 15, 2023 of the Ministry of Finance regulating the management, use and settlement of career funds from the state budget to implement national target programs for the period 2021-2025 allows spending to support people to participate in literacy training.

Accordingly, based on the actual situation in the locality and within the allocated state budget, the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities shall submit to the People's Councils of the same level specific regulations on the content and level of support to encourage people to participate in literacy training.

According to reports from relevant sectors, in 2022, despite the late allocation of capital, 90% of the work volume for illiteracy eradication for people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas was completed, with a disbursement rate of 88.2%. This is a great effort by localities to eliminate illiteracy for people.

However, to promote sustainable illiteracy eradication, in addition to effectively using budget resources, localities need to develop plans, associated with promoting the role of continuing education centers, community learning centers, mass organizations and social forces in participating in illiteracy eradication and preventing relapse of illiteracy for adults.

Strengthen propaganda on mass media about the importance of illiteracy eradication and publish communication materials on illiteracy eradication such as banners, posters, billboards, leaflets, skits, radio stories, etc. in conjunction with propaganda on building a learning society, building new rural areas and local emulation movements.

Organize literacy classes at locations that are convenient for students to travel to and in accordance with the living habits of ethnic minorities. Promote the role of clans, dignitaries, and religious officials in maintaining literacy classes. Promote voluntary literacy teaching activities of youth organizations at all levels...

In 1965, UNESCO chose September 8 every year as the International Literacy Day with the aim of emphasizing the importance of universal education for citizens, communities and the whole society; at the same time, actively mobilizing the international community to promote the eradication of illiteracy as a tool to empower individuals, communities and society.

Literacy is a powerful tool for the individual and a factor in social and human development. Eliminating illiteracy opens up access to education and is a prerequisite for broader learning of knowledge, skills, attitudes and other necessary values to contribute to building a sustainable society./.

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