LookAtVietnam – While a new programme to bring folk games into schools, part of a larger Ministry of Education and Training initiative called Friendly School, Active Students, is being welcomed by teachers and administrators, schools are facing difficulties

Double dutch: Children skip rope at the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology. Educators are urging the inclusion of folk games in school curricula as part of the national Friendly School programme.

Traditional folk games like danh khang (tipcat), ban bi (marbles), leo cot mo (climbing the greased pole), danh quay (tops), and choi o an quan (children at play) were all popular folk games, An noted, but are not suited to being played at school because they pose the potential for pupils to suffer injuries or to soil their clothing.

Most schools also lack sufficient space for students to play these games, particularly in the inner city, said An. Four players kicking a shuttlecock, for instance, requires about 12sq.m of playground area.

“We don’t have enough playground area for hundreds of pupils, let alone enough land for classrooms,” said An, noting that many schools in the capital city lack any playground whatsoever.

The best way to bring folk games such as skipping and shuttlecock to pupils is to put the games into physical education periods during which teachers could also train and encourage pupils on how to play these games at home, An said.

Luong Khanh Tung, a sixth grader at Trung Vuong Secondary School in Ha Noi’s Hoan Kiem District, said he was very interested in folk games.

“I often play marbles and skipping at home with my brothers and my father,” said Tung, adding that they were more fun than playing computer games.

Tung’s mother Nguyen Thi Lai said her family is happy and excited when joining their children to playing folk games which launched by her father-in-law.

“The games help our children stay healthy, and most importantly we can exercise and have fun together during our free time,” said Lai, adding that she welcomed the programme to bring these games into schools.

Friendly school

Folk games were only one part of an overall programme to build friendly schools, said An.

Building a friendly school, he said, needed to begin with teachers, who should have a friendlier attitude towards their students, treating them as they would be their own family members.

A true friendly school, said An, is one in which students feel they have entered a good environment because they have friendly classmates and friendly teachers.

To make students love their school, educators and administrators should make them feel more interested in going to class, according to Professor Hoang Xuan Han of the National University in Ha Noi.

Most students currently feel great pressure, the professor said, from the heavy curriculum and too many exercises. Teachers needed to reduce study loads while improving their behaviour, allowing them to become trusted friends of their students and making the student look forward to going to school.

The Ministry of Education and Training launched the Friendly School, Active Students programme for the 2008-09 school year in August, 2008.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News