Custom prevents ethnic minority children from attending school

Custom prevents ethnic minority children from attending school (17-03-2006) Fifth-grade students in Lao Cai Province’s Van Ban District at a math-class.— VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat LAO CAI — Following a custom existing among certain ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous Lao Cai Province, students avoid going to school during the first month of the Lunar New Year, compounding problems of illiteracy among minority communities. The custom of abstaining from labour during the first month is still widely prevalent among Dao do and Mong ethnic minority communities, said Dinh Quang Hai, principal of the Nam Xay School, who incidentally had to send teachers to minority families to persuade students to resume school. The school, located in Van Ban District, has students mainly from Dao do and Mong ethnic minorities, and some students, residing in villages like Mu Cang Chai, have to walk 15km to reach school. At present, 120 of the total 262 students of the school are living in the boarding house. According to teacher Dinh Quang Hai, students who lived far from the school, came late in general after Tet, while those who lived near, stayed away to ward off evil, following superstition, in the form of wind, thunder…

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