Study promotion

Many people do not know about Community Learning Center.

THE ANH September 19, 2024 15:00

The Community Learning Center is known as the "people's school", actively contributing to creating opportunities for regular and lifelong learning for the people. But many people do not know about this center.

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Most Community Learning Centers have no signboards or headquarters. All activities, if any, take place at the cultural house, communal or village hall.

Ineffective operation

Like many people in other localities in the province, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bay in Quoc Tuan commune (Nam Sach) said she had never heard of the Community Learning Center, nor did she understand what its functions were.

“I also attended a workshop at the commune hall about rice varieties and fertilizers, but I don't know if it was a form of activity of the Community Learning Center or not. To "If people know about it, the managers should clearly state that it is the center's activity, and have a sign with the center's name, clearly stating the professions and classes that the center teaches on the board, or have banners hung up whenever there are study topics," said Ms. Bay.

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van Manh in Bai Ha village, Toan Thang commune (Gia Loc) said: “I just found out now that I was asked, but I have never heard of a Community Learning Center in the commune. Not only me, but many people have not known where the Community Learning Center is or what it teaches. If this center exists in the locality, it should be regularly promoted and widely disseminated so that people know about it.”

Present at Toan Thang commune, Mr. Pham Van Duy, Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Director of the Toan Thang Commune Community Learning Center, pointed to the commune hall and said that although there was no signboard, it was temporarily called the Commune Community Learning Center. The office, facilities, and equipment supporting the center's operations were all provided by the office of the Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee.

“On average, each year, the center coordinates with organizations to organize 5-7 sessions of study topics or training, seminars. Each session attracts about 50-100 people, mainly the elderly. The center's operations are very difficult in terms of human resources, facilities and lack of funding. Each time there is a training session, the Commune People's Committee has to support a part of the funding, so the center is very passive. Therefore, the center's operations are not really effective,” said Mr. Duy.

According to the actual survey of the reporter, most of the Community Learning Centers do not have headquarters or signs. The propaganda work about the existence of the center is still limited, the center's activities are not effective. Mobilizing people to participate in learning is also difficult because many people are not active. The content of the learning and training topics is not attractive to people... These are the reasons why many people do not know about the Community Learning Center in the locality.

Many difficulties

According to regulations, the Community Learning Center has the task of organizing and effectively implementing the work of eliminating illiteracy and continuing education after literacy, consolidating the quality of universal education; strengthening propaganda and dissemination of knowledge to expand understanding, raise awareness and improve the quality of life of people in the community; coordinating the implementation of industrial, agricultural and fishery promotion programs and local projects and programs.

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A training course organized by the Toan Thang Commune Community Learning Center (Gia Loc) in 2023 (photo provided by the facility)

The center organizes cultural exchange activities, arts, sports, reading books and newspapers, advising on education, educating local people's children, and preventing social evils. At the same time, it investigates the learning needs of the community, develops learning content and forms suitable to the specific conditions of each target group.

Some education and learning promotion experts believe that Community Learning Centers play an important role in ensuring social justice and equality in education, for sustainable development in residential communities at the commune level. In particular, with the strong and rapid development of science and technology, especially information technology, biotechnology, materials technology, energy technology, artificial intelligence, etc., the center plays an increasingly important role in the socio-economic development of each locality.

However, most of the centers are not operating effectively and practically due to many difficulties. The biggest limitation and difficulty of the current centers is that they do not have their own offices, facilities and equipment. All activities, if any, are carried out at the halls and cultural houses of communes and villages.

In particular, the state budget for the center's operations is not available, but mainly comes from socialized sources or "structured" from the regular expenditure sources of each locality, which has affected the opening of classes and organization of the center's activities.

Not only are there difficulties in terms of facilities, the center's human resources are all part-time staff, such as the center director is usually the vice chairman of the commune-level People's Committee, the deputy director is the principal of a local school and a leader of some organization. Because they have to manage many other tasks of the locality and unit, the time spent on the center's activities is limited. Meanwhile, the apparatus of many centers does not have a structure for learning promotion staff.

On the other hand, the allowance for the staff in charge of the center's activities is low, not even enough for gas money to go out to propagate and mobilize people, so it has not encouraged their enthusiasm. Some staff in charge do not even understand the functions, tasks and roles of the center. Many centers have not conducted in-depth surveys on people's learning needs, and the content of propaganda and learning is repetitive, so it has not attracted a large number of people.

Capacity building for center staff

Currently, 100% of communes in the province have established Community Learning Centers. Although there have been initial results, there are still many limitations and shortcomings, including the staff in charge of the centers.

Therefore, it is necessary to improve the capacity of the staff of the Community Learning Center. Add more structure to the center's operating apparatus. In addition to the Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee as Deputy Director, it is necessary to add more leaders of the Learning Promotion Association to participate in concurrently holding the position of Deputy Director of the center. These are usually retired teachers with experience, enthusiasm and more time to pay more attention to the center's activities. The grassroots Learning Promotion Association should play a core role in consulting, building movements and mobilizing the masses; socio-political organizations should proactively cooperate, voluntarily and exemplary with the Party Committee and government to carry out the above tasks.

Each center should have at least one permanent staff member responsible for regular tasks such as planning, advising on the implementation of educational activities...

Nguyen Van Nhang, Vice President of Hai Duong Province Association for Promotion of Education

Providing operating funds for Community Learning Centers

In addition to facilities, equipment and human resources, funding for the Community Learning Center to maintain regular operations is very important. In fact, in addition to the initial funding when establishing the center, each year the units must balance their own budgets and mobilize socialized resources to maintain operations. Without a fixed source of funding, the implementation of activities is also passive and ineffective.

Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize providing a fixed annual budget for the centers. Having a fixed budget will create conditions for the centers to proactively develop plans and organize more activities. From there, the center staff will have more favorable conditions to advise, coordinate and promote socialization.

It is not easy to mobilize people to participate in the center's activities, so a small amount of funding is needed to attract people.

Currently, the staff in charge of the center are supported from 70,000 - 100,000 VND/month. Therefore, it is also necessary to study increasing the funding to encourage more spirit and responsibility of these people.

Nguyen Thi Ha, Principal of Quoc Tuan Secondary School, Deputy Director of Quoc Tuan Commune Community Learning Center (Nam Sach)

Innovation and diversification of curriculum content

One reason why the Community Activity Center is not effective and has not attracted a large number of people is because the curriculum content is not rich and does not meet the needs of learners.

Therefore, in addition to widely promoting the existence of the center, the centers need to innovate the content of the training program. Innovate the way of communicating to the people by holding hands, practicing in the production area... Of course, depending on the specific conditions, each center needs to organize appropriate and effective programs. When building the center's program of activities, it is necessary to base on the needs of the people, the community, the programs of the departments, branches, organizations, the capacity and resources of the locality and the center. We must make sure that each learner becomes a propagandist, guiding other farmers after each training program.

In particular, the age group participating in the learning program is mainly adults, so the centers need to choose teaching content suitable for each group of learners; promote the positivity and independence of learners; use appropriate teaching methods and forms of organization; choose reasonable learning locations and times; create a favorable learning environment for learners.

Nguyen Van Luat, Chairman of Farmers' Association of Toan Thang Commune (Gia Loc)

THE ANH
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Many people do not know about Community Learning Center.