School supply sponsors sought for Work Camp 2008
Sunflower Mission is looking for donors interested in sponsoring school supply packages for students. The Work Camp volunteers will be personally giving the packages to students whose family is poor and cannot shoulder the cost of obtaining school supplies. Students often do not have basic school supplies such as pencils, pens, notebooks, or school bags.
Price increases burdening teachers
Minority kids struggle to finish school
In northernmost Ha Giang Province just 30.26% of students complete the universal education programme.
In Cao Bang Province, the graduates total just 39.9%. Ethnic students accounted for only 18, 14 and 10% of all at primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools in the 2006-2007 academic year, says Ethnic Affairs Committee deputy chairman Ha Hung.
Students struggling in price storm
The price storm has been putting big difficulties on all Vietnamese families, sparing no one. However, students who live away from home are suffering most
Students who live away from home are suffering the most from the price storm. Many of them have to live on the money given to them by their parents every month. However, the sums of money have become smaller these days in the context of the galloping price increases.
Textbook price hike will worsen drop-out problem
While the government has asked schools not to increase fees, allowing our textbooks – which many experts agree are of poor quality – to become more expensive is the kind of policy contradiction that could sink our burgeoning economy.
The hike of 10 percent on the retail price of textbooks may seem insignificant to some well-off urban families, but for parents in rural and remote areas who have been hit hard by soaring market prices over the past half-year, it could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
