Vietnam’s first community-based education centre opens in Ha Giang

Ha Giang (VNA) – The community-based education centre of Ha Giang city, the northernmost province of Ha Giang, made debut on August 8, becoming the first of its kind in Vietnam.

Director of the centre Hoang Dieu Thuy said it provides English language teaching, special education (for children with autism, intellectual disabilities, and reading disorder), mental health care and library services, meeting the public’s need for high-quality educational services.

Those activities are monitored and assessed and will be adjusted when necessary by 14 experts, most of whom are working abroad.

Thuy said with the establishment of this centre, local children with autism, intellectual disabilities and reading disorder will receive appropriate care and education right in the locality for the first time.

The community-based education centre of Ha Giang city is a non-profit project initiated by Ha Giang province’s Centre for Community Assistance and a private science-technology organisation operating in the province.

It will receive infrastructure and financial support from the Ha Giang municipal People’s Committee until the end of 2017. As from 2018, the centre will be financially independent through paid and fundraising activities.

Toshi Matsumoto, Acting UNESCO representative in Vietnam and Director of the UNESCO Office in Hanoi, said to operate effectively, the centre needs to enhance the public’s engagement in informal education activities. 

It should step up attracting social resources through public-private partnership, non-refundable sponsorship, no-interest loans and fundraising so as to expand the centre’s activities and improve its staff’s quality, he added.-VNA