Education divisions in the Mekong Delta region have taken heed of textbook supply for poor students. Le Thanh Long, head of the Department of Primary Education in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho said that in a bid to help children from low-income families , the Department of Education and Training distributed textbooks to schools’ libraries which will be given to first graders in poverty.
112 students of primary schools Thoi Xuan 1 and Thoi Xuan 2 in Can Tho City will be given new textbooks from the libraries.
Nguyen Minh Tam, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training in Dong Thap, said that over half of students in the province borrowed new textbooks from school libraries. Additionally, education encouragement associations and parents associations have been calling for donations of textbooks for destitute students. The Department has been making lists of poor students to give timely assistance before the new school year starts.
The Education Division in Soc Trang Province in the Mekong Delta has provided 610 sets of textbooks worth nearly VND60 million (US$ 2,580) to schools which needy children can borrow from their school libraries.
Director of the Department of Education and Training in Soc Trang Nguyen Thi Tuyet Ha said that the sector has encouraged benefactors to buy textbooks for poor children so that all children can go to schools.
The Division of Education in A Luoi District in the Central Province of Thua Thien – Hue said that majority of minority ethnic students in the district are from poverty-stricken families; therefore, the new textbooks prices which are three time higher than the ones before have caused high pressures on parents; these families can’t afford new textbooks.
In addition to advising parents to register buying textbooks in schools to avoid mistakes, the Education Division called for generous donation from benefactors to build a book shelf which underprivileged students can borrow textbooks from it.
Meantime, teacher Nguyen Khac Diep, Principal of a boarding school for minority ethnic students in the Central Province of Quang Nam’s Nam Tra My District, said that 70 percent of students are from poor minority ethnic families. Therefore, the principal appealed to benefactors and enterprises to provide textbooks for students.
Education divisions in other cities and provinces across the country followed suit and encouraged sponsors to buy 300 sets of textbooks for first schoolers in disadvantaged districts.
