Passing on the legacy to the younger generation

Students experience Cham brocade weaving at My Son Heritage Site. Photo: VINH LOC

Through experiential activities, students have a better understanding of national history and culture, thereby fostering love for their homeland, pride and awareness of preserving and promoting local heritage values.

Nurturing love of heritage

On the morning of August 19, Le Nguyen Ha Thanh, a student of class 7/2, Nguyen Thanh Han Secondary School (Thu Bon Commune) and her classmates participated in an extracurricular program to learn about the heritage at My Son Temple Complex. Although this was the second time she experienced it, everything still seemed very new to Ha Thanh.

“From the first moment I set foot here, I was captivated by the quiet, ancient space and the distinctive colors of the artifacts and temples. In addition to visiting and learning about the heritage, I also participated in many interesting experiential activities such as pottery making, painting, embroidering traditional Cham patterns... thereby helping me understand and feel more clearly the delicate beauty of the art and architecture of the ancient Champa Kingdom,” Ha Thanh shared.

First implemented in 2004, the program "Heritage Education in Schools" organized by the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board in coordination with the Department of Education and Training of Duy Xuyen district (old) attracted the participation of tens of thousands of students from many schools in Quang Nam province (old).

In the 2024-2025 school year alone, the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board coordinated to organize 6 heritage education programs attracting 5,100 students from 49 primary, secondary and high schools and 4 programs for nearly 2,000 students from universities: Tourism, Culture, Architecture, Fine Arts...

Participating in the program, students were guided to learn about the cultural history, architecture of My Son temple complex and artifacts at the Sa Huynh - Champa Culture Museum.

At the same time, you can experience some interesting recreational activities such as painting artifacts; molding, carving statues, making pottery; embroidering artifacts on handbags; printing pictures of gods on Do paper (Dong Ho painting printing technique); participating in traditional folk games such as O an quan, flipping pictures (memorizing images of artifacts, gods, decorative motifs, etc.).

Teacher Nguyen Thanh Minh, Principal of Nguyen Chi Thanh Primary and Secondary School, acknowledged that the heritage education program is a meaningful activity, helping students better understand history and traditional culture, contributing to the formation of love for the homeland, country, pride and awareness of preserving local cultural heritage values. In addition to closely coordinating with the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board to implement sightseeing and experience activities for students, the school also integrates heritage education content into a number of subjects and extracurricular activities.

Thereby, not only helping students acquire knowledge but also fostering and nurturing pride and responsibility in preserving and promoting the heritage values of their homeland.

Diversified heritage education activities

According to Mr. Nguyen Cong Khiet, Deputy Director in charge of the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board, cultural heritage education has great significance, acting as a gateway to understanding and appreciating the past, especially helping to raise awareness, foster knowledge, and educate historical and cultural traditions for young generations.

Participating in the heritage education program, students listened to explanations about Cham cultural artifacts at My Son Temple Complex. Photo: VINH LOC

“From the very beginning, the unit has paid attention to raising understanding and community awareness in preserving and promoting the value of local heritage, thereby connecting students' feelings towards heritage, aiming to pass on heritage to the younger generation,” said Mr. Nguyen Cong Khiet.

Over the years, the My Son World Heritage Management Board has not only coordinated to organize students to visit and directly experience artifacts and temple architecture, but also created many playgrounds for students to participate in, such as organizing a video contest introducing the My Son World Heritage in bilingual (Vietnamese - English); a video contest promoting the homeland museum (Sa Huynh - Champa Culture Museum) or the contest "I am a heritage tour guide" (English explanation), practicing explanation and tour guiding skills... creating conditions for students to practice English skills.

Most of the activities create positive effects from schools, teachers, students, and even tourists who are scientists and heritage managers.

Professor Mariko Yamagata (Japan), who has 30 years of experience in excavating and preserving cultural heritages in Da Nang city, affirmed that heritage education for the community, especially for students, is very important because it helps the younger generation understand and love heritage and their homeland more.

“In the field of archaeology, there is a term called community archaeology that aims to connect archaeology with social movements, aiming to build a close relationship between archaeology and local people, including young people.

Therefore, when I saw the images of students visiting and experiencing the artifacts at the Sa Huynh - Champa Museum and the My Son temple complex, I was really impressed and happy. I hope the program will continue to be implemented and further developed and the My Son heritage will become a community archaeology center in Vietnam, especially a place to pass on the love of heritage to the next young generations", Prof. Mariko Yamagata shared.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/trao-truyen-di-san-cho-the-he-tre-3299830.html