Lookatvietnam – A Ven, a Ra Ngao ethnic minority man with little money, takes a squash from the garden with him when he takes his four-year-old son A Vieng to kindergarten.

City kindergarteners and primary school students are familiar with lunch at day-care but the model is new in remote areas of Kon Tum Province.

It’s a daily routine. Sometimes he takes a squash, sometimes a gourd, several eggs, or sometimes a chicken.

“I don’t have much money, but I can bring home-grown cooking to the class, and my son can have lunch. It’s really great,” says A Ven.

“My wife and I are quite happy that we don’t have to worry about feeding him lunch and do the field work instead,” he says.

The idea has been adopted by Son Ca Kindergarten to help cash-poor ethnic families in Ho Moong Commune in Sa Thay District in the Central Highland province of Kon Tum.

A Ven says his family does farm work and barely makes ends meet. But with the bartering model at Son Ca Kindergarten, they don’t have to worry about paying for meals.

Day-care has long been popular in city and urban schools to ease the strain on parents who have to work all day. But in remote areas, they are a novelty and particularly useful for parents with little cash, says Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, principal of Son Ca Kindergarten.

“They have been really effective and helped decrease the rate of pupils dropping out of school,” says Thuy. “More importantly, they create a chance for every child to go to school.”

Since the coupon scheme was applied, the rate of pupils coming to class has risen from 50 per cent in 2006 to 90 per cent in 2007-08.

“If the scheme is applied in other schools, more children will go,” says Thuy.

Coupons will be given to families who do not have food to take to school because of a bad harvest. They can take extra food when the harvest is good.

Another scheme used at Sa Binh Kindergarten in Sa Thay District lets parents prepare lunch for their children to take to school so that they do not have to leave the fields to prepare lunch for them. This saves hours of valuable time.

“It has been effective beyond our expectations,” says Le Thi Manh, principal of Sa Binh Kindergarten.

According to Manh, Sa Binh Commune has four ethnic villages. More than 150 of the school’s 250 pupils are ethnic children. Most of their parents do field work, and usually take them to the fields with them – where they are also fed.

“We found that if pupils leave school for lunch after morning lessons, they do not return in the afternoon because they follow their parents to the field,” she says.

A Lap, a five -year-old Xe Dang ethnic minority boy, in Binh Loong Village of Sa Binh Commune, is among the many pupils who used to miss afternoon classes after going home for lunch. But since the beginning of 2008-09 school year, he has not missed one.

“I prepare his lunch every morning and he can stay at school all day,” says A Chich, his father. A Chich says he feels more easy after the school applies this model.

The school also supports parents by supplying re-usable meal boxes, spoons as well as blankets and mats for them to have a nap on after lunch.

This helps children become more independent in having meals, Manh says. And they also learn to tidy-up after lunch and know how to keep their own things.

Moreover, they also learn to wash their hands before eating.

Sometimes children bring a box of plain rice for lunch, but the schools buy peanuts for them.

(Source: Viet Nam News)