Makeshift to Made Well

By Dao Van Duc, Trieu Phong ADP manager World Vision has made significant improvements in access to quality preschool education for the Trieu Trung community in Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province. The new Trieu Trung Commune Kindergarten was built in several stages, beginning in 2003 and finally completed last year, and now caters for 245 local children aged from three to five. The new preschool has nine classrooms spread between three branch sites with sanitation facilities, kitchens for provision of day-boarding lunches and green playgrounds for outdoor activities. The kindergarten is also well equipped with school supplies. The lowland community of Trieu Trung comprises eight villages that are home to over 6,000 inhabitants whose main livelihood is rice cultivation and animal husbandry. In the past, local farmers with kindergarten-age children had to leave their farming work to take their sons and daughters to and from makeshift kindergartens up to four times a day. These temporary kindergartens were often old rooms normally used for village meetings and by agricultural cooperatives, which mostly had woven bamboo walls and thatched roofs. As a result of poor condition of the rooms, both parents and teachers worried about heavy rain and strong winds that might endanger the children’s health or even their lives, especially in winter. They dreamed of safe and properly built kindergartens for the children. “No words can express how grateful we are to World Vision for the new kindergarten buildings,” commented one father, Mr. Nguyen Cong Lan. “We feel sure now that our children are being well educated and cared for all day in a proper place. The day-boarding scheme also gives us more time to work in the fields.” Besides infrastructure and materials, the teachers have been trained in early childhood care and development to enhance the quality of child-focused teaching. Parents have also been involved in making study equipment for their children, while children with disabilities have been given equal access to kindergarten education. “The quality of teaching and conditions in which to work and study are far better than before,” said Mrs. Phan Thi Cam, principal of the new kindergarten. “Our kindergarten has twice been recognised as meeting national standards by the Ministry of Education and Training,” she continued, “and our teachers and parents are thankful to World Vision for this big change for our community.” To date, Trieu Phong Area Development Programme has helped nine communities to improve their kindergarten education, benefiting over 2,200 preschool children.