Education Wish List

Background

Primary education in Vietnam lasts for five years. Children usually start school at age 6 or 7. Primary school is compulsory.

The next level of education is Intermediate or Junior High School which lasts for four years. Secondary or High School follows for a further three years. These levels of schooling are not compulsory although all children with the financial capacity to do so will enroll.

Examinations are usually taken at the end of each grade, and the results achieved bear strongly on progression to the next grade and from level to level.

Families that can afford the cost typically send their children to extra classes, often conducted in the homes of teachers, to help ensure that the children pass exams. Children who cannot access additional learning face a double disadvantage - slower progress through the education system, and the impacts of poor achievement at school on their future life prospects. You can read here about other impediments to education for poor and disadvantaged children in Vietnam.

Proposal 1: Sponsor a Teacher

Long Hải Centre provides schooling for approximately 110 children from poor families in the local community. Without this free service, these children would instead be working as their families cannot afford the costs of sending them to government schools. The Centre also provides full care - meals, shelter, health care, social activities - for street/abandoned children, disabled children (special focus of victims of Agent Orange - dioxin) and children from families whose daily living situations are precarious.

All the ongoing running expenses of Long Hải Centre are met through donations by corporate companies and private individuals. Keeping Long Hải Centre open requires an in-flow of approximately $3,000 AUD each month.

Titibititiem Projects seeks your support to sponsor the salaries of the five classroom teachers working at Long Hải Centre. Our goal is to supplement the monthly budget of the centre by $750 AUD, and so allow other donations to be redirected to the many other services provided at the centre. Imagine a gift of just $15 AUD a month from a circle of 50 friends providing employment for five teachers!

Proposal 2: Employ a Homework Teacher

All the children living at the Vũng Tàu Centres who have the necessary identification/registration papers are enrolled at government school. Unfortunately, many of them fall behind in their studies, to the extent of failing end-of-grade examinations. After just one and a half years of sending the children from "P" Centre, the impacts of the lack of supervised homework/self-study time by a qualified teacher are already evident.

Titibititiem Projects seeks your support in raising the funds needed to employ a primary teacher at the Vũng Tàu Orphanage - Phan Bội Châu Street. Our goal is to secure the commitment of friends for three years, to raise a total of $2,000 AUD per annum. A circle of 20 friends committed to contributing $100 per year would be ideal.

Can you help? Have you got any ideas for making these projects a reality? Please drop a line to titibititiem.projects@gmail.com.