A unique initiative by Plan Vietnam has seen children from ethnic minority groups achieve greater understanding of Vietnamese language and gain confidence in their classrooms.

By introducing puppets into story-telling activities in pre-schools in Dakrong district, Quang Tri province, children from the Van Kieu and Paco minority groups - who do not speak Vietnamese - are taught the language to help improve their future life skills.

Usually the children are only exposed to the official language through television or radio, but most are too poor to afford this type of equipment. Then when they go to school where the curriculum is in Vietnamese, it is very difficult for them to understand and many drop out of education.

Breaking barriers

Plan worked with the local education authority and encouraged them to use puppets - a project that was supported by the local teachers and schools.

“The puppets help to reduce the gap between children and teachers. Ethnic minority children are very shy when they start school but they become more excited when telling a story and participating in school activities with the puppets,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc, head of the pre-school division of the Dakrong Department of Education and Training.

“The training also helped teachers make use of available materials in their teaching. It's especially meaningful for such poor areas as ours,” she added.

Based on its success, this initiative will be applied to all other pre-schools in the province, helping build a strong foundation for child development in remote ethnic areas and reducing the inequality in access to higher education.