Resource development for primary schools on Climate change and environment

REPORT
TO GTZ KIEN GIANG BIOSPHERE RESERVE PROJECT

Resource development for primary schools
on
climate change and environment

Thuy, 2008

by
Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy

22 October 2008


A – BACKGROUND INFORMATION
GTZ together with Kien Giang Provincial People’s Committee have been implementing the
project “Conservation and Development of the Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve” (Phase I)
funded by AusAID. The overall objective of the project is to utilise the natural resources of
Kien Giang province in a sustainable way with effective management of the projected areas.
Development and implementation of awareness programs on the importance of climate
change, biodiversity and garbage issues with different targeted groups is one of key activities
for the project.
The Project Output 4 – Environmental awareness raising campaigns jointly
implemented with the Soc Trang project is one of the components for the project to
achieve its overall objective. To Output 4, the development of education resources on climate
change, biodiversity and garbage is considered as a sustainable approach. It is designed as an
assignment for an international education specialist who will be in Kien Giang in November
2008 and January to March 2009. The targeted groups will be primary school children of Rach
Gia city and rural and Khmer communes of project four coastal districts, U Minh Thuong
National Park, Phu Quoc National Park’s Buffer Zone.

The writing of this paper is an initial step to provide the education specialist with basic
background information for the development of a resource book on garbage, climate change
and biodiversity.
The information includes:
1. References of global approaches for Education for Sustainable Development (20052014).
2. Laws on environmental protection, instructions for the implementation of local
education by the Vietnamese Government and the Ministry of Education and Training
(MoET).
3. To what extent children have been learning about garbage, climate change and
biodiversity with the implementation of the national primary curriculum at primary
schools in Rach Gia city, Hon Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh districts. This
information will assist the specialist to develop ideas of how to integrate a resource
book content into the current teaching and learning of these subjects.
4. The current situation of garbage disposal at the primary schools of four communes in
Hon Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh districts.
5. The information of the communes.
6. Recommendations for a resource book design.

B – REFERENCES OF LAWS, DECISIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS
I – THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT (2005 – 2014)

2


The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) was
adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2002. Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD) allows to have the integration of the principles of sustainable
development into a multitude of different learning situations.
The implementation of ESD provides children with a new vision that helps them to

understand the world in which they live, to address the complexity and interconnectedness of
problems, poverty, deforestation, waste consumption, environmental degradation, population
growth, health etc…
ESD applies a holistic and interdisciplinary approaches to empower children with
knowledge and skills for a sustainable future and changes in values, behaviors, lifestyles and to
make decisions and acts in culturally appropriate and locally relevant ways.
II - THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT
“Law on Environmental Protection” by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam, dated 10 January 1994 addresses the Environmental Protection is seen as one of
important responsibilities for any individual Vietnamese people in accordance with the
following articles.
ƒ

Article 6 - “All organisations and individuals shall have responsibilities to protect the
environment, observe the environmental protection legislation,, have the fight and
obligation to detect and denounce any act in breach of the environmental protection
legislation.”

ƒ

Article 12 - “Organisations and individuals shall have the responsibility to protect all
varieties of species of wild plants and animals, maintain biodiversity and protect
forests, seas and all ecosystems.”

ƒ

Articles 15 - “Organisations and individuals must protect the water sources, water
supply and drainage systems, vegetation, sanitation facilities and observe the regulation
on public hygiene in cities, tourist centers and production areas.”

The Law’s Article 37 emphasizes the important role of training, educating, propagandizing
and disseminating knowledge and legislation in the environmental protection.
Especially, the Law highlights the cooperation with other foreign institutions on the
environmental protection as the following article.
ƒ

Article 46 - “The Government of Vietnam adopts priority towards countries,
international organisations, foreign organisations and individuals with respect to
environmental manpower training in Vietnam.”

Notes: The Law was revised and endorsed by National Assembly at its XI Term on the 19
November 2005.
Vietnam’s National Environment Protection Strategy 2001 – 2010 signed several multilateral environmental conventions and other national action plans for the protection of
biodiversity, wetlands and the environment.

3


Decision No. 20/2006/QD-TTg on “Development of education, training and
vocational education in the Mekong Delta to 2010”, dated 20 January 2006. Regarding the
new curriculum and teaching and learning methodologies, the Decision addresses it is
important to consider life experiences and conditions of children in the Mekong Delta for the
development of a flexible school-year program and teaching and learning methodologies.
For the development of resource books on teaching and learning of local knowledge, the
Decision also indicates the curriculum textbooks are basic background for the local
resource/guidelines development. They need strongly relating to children’s life experiences
and local economic and social conditions.
III – THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING (MoET)
Decision No. 4354/BGDDT-GDTH on “Environmental Education” by MoET, dated
19 May 2008.

Decision No. 896/BGDT-GDTH on “Instructions for the adjustment of the teaching
and learning at primary schools” by MoET , dated 13 February 2006 identifies that teachers
are not allowed to bring in content that are not in the textbooks and the curriculum as it will
overload children’s learning. However, teachers are allowed to use reference books in order to
develop good and meaningful lesson plans whose content is connected to children’s local
knowledge. According to the decision, each school also has a responsibility or flexibility for
the development of specific lesson content, teaching methodologies, content quantity and
lesson time.
Decision No. 5982/BGDDT-GDTH on “Instructions for the teaching and learning of
local knowledge at primary schools” by MoET, dated 07 July 2008, identifies
ƒ

If teaching the subject of Geography whose content is related to local conditions in
terms of biodiversity, topography…, teachers must give children opportunities to
collect information available at where they are living and to develop a knowledge of
what are locally surrounding them. Number of periods per year for the teaching and
learning local geography is 2 periods per year for grade five. For grade four, the local
content will be taught in the integration with the national curriculum.

ƒ

The environmental education is regarded as one of the key content of the subject of
Ethics. Permission to design resources on the environment and the environmental
protection is given by the Decision. Schools have at least 3 periods per year for the
teaching and learning of the environment.

ƒ

The development of teaching/learning resources for the local use should meet
scientific, realistic and successive standards. They can be used as references for

teachers or use officially for preparations of lesson plans, tests and assignments.

Instructions No. 40/2008/CT-BGDĐT and Plan No. 307/KH–BGDĐT by MoET,
dated 22 July 2008 aim to give a concept of child-friendly school and active learning
implementation. Those documents have not given specific instructions of how to make a
school become more friendly to children and how to use active learning with children yet.
However it is a basic background to bring in activities and games to encourage children’s
active participation into the design of the resource book.

4


Decision No. 51/2007/QD-BGDDT on “Regulations for the primary school” by
MoET, dated 31 August 2007 highlights the textbooks are used officially in the teaching and
learning. The school has responsibility to equip teachers with reference resources and to
encourage them to use those reference resources for lesson plans to ensure a high quality of
teaching and learning.

C – THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM
From grades one to five with the subjects of socio-natural and science, children develop a
general knowledge of the living organisms, their ecosystems, the energy, the environment and
impacts of human’s activities on the environment.
Grade One
At grade one, children start to learn about the environmental surrounding them including their
home, the community and schools. Children also develop a basic knowledge of animals, plants
and ecosystem of those living things.
Grade Two
Children develop further an awareness of the community environment. They know about
benefits of keeping the house and community clean. Their knowledge of community concept
at this level is expanded from home to schools, neighbors, farms, gardens etc… Children

continue to learn about which activities to keep schools clean. Children start to develop a basic
knowledge of botany, animals, aquatic life, the solar system.
Grade Three
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is introduced to children in a lesson of the respiratory system (human’s
body). They learn what the polluted air is and its impact on the health especially the respiratory
system. The concept of the environment is expanded more in this grade. Different human
activities (industry, business, agriculture, information…) are introduced in connection to the
environment of urban and rural areas. Especially, children learn about garbage/waste issues
and their impacts on people’s health. Information of garbage is given in details including
garbage management, public awareness of garbage, sewage management, water treatment and
sanitation practices.
Children continues to study botany, animals, aquatic life and the solar system in more details.
The topic of the solar system provides children knowledge of how the sun benefits life of
living things and human beings. In particular, how human beings use the sun for their
activities. Application question (Bloom taxonomy) is also used for grade three children with
the topic, for example “What has your family been doing to utilise the sun light and
temperature?”
Grade Four
Children learn a basic concept of the water, the water circle and the relationship between the
water and living things and the human. To further development their knowledge of the water,
clarification of polluted water and clean water is also taught. Especially, how water is polluted
by human activities is clearly explained. Why the water is polluted, according to the textbook
are poor garbage management, industrial waste, fertilizers, smoke and oil. Children study

5


impacts of polluted water on human’s health and what can do to protect and to save the water.
They are also required to develop posters to raise people’s awareness of the water and their
actions to keep the water clean.

The topic of the air is given to develop children’s concept of the air, oxygen, nitro and carbon
dioxide. The quality of clean air and how the air is polluted are introduced. Children are
required to make lists of what they can do to protect the air from the pollution. They develop
their awareness of activities like planting trees, well managing the garbage and reducing the
carbon dioxide.
Grade Five
The effects of climate change on the weather patterns and human’s life are introduced in more
details to children. They learn about the energy, the environment and natural resources.
Through these lessons, children recognise how human’s activities including deforestation,
natural resource exploitation, population have been making impacts on the environment.
With the topic of energy, children learn about the power generated from different resources
including the sun, the wind, the water, biogas, oil and coal. They know benefits of using
different kinds of energy. Children develop an awareness of why people need to save the
electricity. They know why deforestation activities to make coal have caused floods and
landslides. Children learn carbon dioxide is harmful to the environment and there should be
ways to manage wisely the industrial waste and smoke. Clean energy resources are emphasized
as important for the environmental protection.
Children continue to consolidate knowledge of ecosystems that they have learned in grades
one to four. They learn the important roles of natural resources to human beings. They know
why the poor exploitation of those resources and pollution make impacts on human’s life.
Children develop an awareness of why oil exploitation and industrial waste are polluting the air
and the water.
The topic of land use draws children’s attention of why people use land and reasons for their
different land use purposes. The topic also includes issues of using chemicals, fertilizers
resulting in the degradation of the soil quality. The poor ways of waste/garbage disposal are
said harmful to the soil.
What should do to protect the environment is quite interesting with information of
environmental protection law, policies. Some activities for the environmental protection are
introduced to children like planting trees, growing terraced fields and good waste treatment.
From the information above, it could be said that with the national curriculum for science and

socio-natural subjects, topics of climate change, biodiversity, garbage issues are already
introduced to children of grades three to five. Thus, there will be opportunities for the design
of a teacher resource book that develop further children’s awareness of the topics that should
also develop their abilities for practical implementation. There will be also opportunities for
design of activities to encourage children’s language and mathematic development through
participating in problem-solving activities and games.

6


D – SCHOOL’S INFORMATION
The information was collected from the visits to six primary schools of Rach Gia city, Hon
Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh districts (See Appendix 1 – School visit information,
October 2008).
Garbage disposal
Most of the main schools were green and clean. Those schools met the evaluation criteria for
the title of “The Green, Clean, Beautiful School”. Classrooms had plants on the walls and
windows. Basic sanitation facilities for children and teachers were available at the main
schools. An awareness of how to keep the school clean was strongly developed in some
schools having the title of “the National Standard School”. Some schools applied the
classification of “Inorganic garbage” and “Organic garbage” with children.
Hong Bang school in Rach Gia city was seen as a good model for the garbage classification
and the implementation of recycling, renewing and reusing old materials (toys) with children.
However, most schools in the districts disposed garbage without classification. The practice of
garbage burning outdoor was popular. Recycling, reusing and renewing garbage were not
applied in most schools.
The schools in districts of Hon Dat and Kien Luong districts were quite green and clean while
other schools of An Minh and An Bien were not. In those schools garbage disposal practice
was not well done. Most classrooms were covered with dust and garbage was all over the floor.
In the school of An Minh district, a location of garbage disposal was found next by the food

stall.
Resources or materials on garbage disposal management available at the schools were list of 11
and 15 evaluation criteria for “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” by DoET ( Appendix 2 & 3
“11 Evaluation Criteria for the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” & “15 Evaluation Criteria for
the Green, Clean, Beautiful School”).
Some schools had posters, slogans and children’s drawings on activities to keep the school
clean. Those posters, slogans and drawings were not well used.
See Appendix 4 “School Information” for further information.
Climate change and biodiversity
Most of the schools did not have resources on climate change and biodiversity. The concept
of climate change and biodiversity was new to school senior staff. Children of grades 4 and 5
could develop their knowledge of climate change, the impact of CO2 emission, biodiversity
when learning science, socio-natural subjects.
When the national curriculum allowed teachers to have 15% of the flexibility for the teaching
of local references, children had a chance to learn about the local biodiversity including the
national parks or endangered living things etc…of Kien Giang. However it still depends on
individual teacher’s lesson plan preparation.

7


Active learning implementation
With the implementation of the Instructions No. 40/2008/CT-BGDĐT by MoET on
“Launching the competition to build the child-friendly school and active children”, the school
principals and BoET’s officers of Kien Giang understood that “child-friendly school” was a
green, clean school. Most classrooms had no sign of children working in groups for activities
and games. Teachers were found sitting at the desks during the lessons. Classrooms did not
reflect positive learning environment for children. There was also no sign of teaching and
learning aids being made for lessons.

E – COMMUNITY’S INFORMATION
Poor Khmer people took around 20 to 30% of the population of four communes Tho Son
(Hon Dat), Binh An (Kien Luong), Dong Yen (An Bien) and Dong Hoa (An Minh). Most of
them made a living by working as labors in rice farms, cement production factories and stone
fields. The Vietnamese Government have supported poor Khmer households with the 135
Program.
The air of Tho Son commune (Hon Dat) and Binh An commune (Kien Luong) were polluted
by stone exploitation companies and cement production companies (Holcim, Ha Tien II, Con
Ga (chicken) and Kien Giang companies). At Dong Yen commune, the canal water was
polluted by pesticides and fertilizers.
The people’s committee of Binh An (Kien Luong), Dong Hoa (An Minh) supported local
people to improve their livelihoods with forest planting and protecting programs. Local people
also participated in meetings on forest protection. However, when they could not make a
living from the programs, deforestation still happened.
Binh An commune (Kien Luong) is a location of the well-known islets named “Phu Tu”
(Father and Son). Tourism services are booming in this commune.
Please read Appendix 4 on School Information (pages 17-40) for further information of the
communes visited in Hon Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh.

F – RECOMMENDATIONS
According to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), the
Laws by the Vietnamese Government and Decisions by the Ministry of Education and
Training as well as the information collected from the visits, some recommendations for the
development of a resource book are given as follows.
1 – The development of a resource book on garbage, climate change and biodiversity is highly
recommended for primary schools in Kien Giang. The resource book will contribute to
Vietnam’s efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals to 2015.
2 – Topics of the resource book need to link closely to the national primary curriculum for the
subjects of Socio-Natural, Science and Geography.
3 – The development of activities and games for the resource book need to take into account

that teachers and children at schools of Kien Giang have not been familiar with active learning
methodologies.
8


4 – A workshop for teachers on the introduction of the resource book and how to implement
activities and games with children is necessary. It will also be a good opportunity to receive
feedback from teachers before considering to publish it with MoET’s endorsement.
5 - The activity for children on renewing and reusing the old toys of Hong Bang Primary
School (Rach Gia) could be seen as one of good activities for the resource book.
6 - Background information of garbage, climate change and biodiversity should be given in the
resource book. The information needs to be simple and understandable to children and
teachers.

Garbage – Background information will help teachers and children to raise an awareness of

impacts of plastics on the environment, sea creatures, soil quality of Kien Giang. Garbage
classification, “Recycle, Reuse, Renew” will be key focus. For example:

PLASTICS
* They take up to 100 years to decompose.
* They comprise up to 90% of floating marine
debris, threatening the life of sea plankton, birds,
fish and sea plants.

RECYCLE
When 1 ton of paper is recycled, it will save
17 trees
21,000 litres of water
30 kilogram of air from being polluted

23 m3 of landful waste

Biodiversity - Background information will help teachers and children to answer questions of

“What does biodiversity mean?”, “What are habitats and web of life?” or “Why is biodiversity
conservation/development important?” and “what can we do to protect local biodiversity?”.
Information of Kien Giang biodiversity needs to be given as locally factual information.

Climate change – Background information will help teachers and children to answer

questions of “Conditions for climate change?”, “Why does climate change become an
important issue to Kien Giang/Vietnam?”, “What can we do to reduce impacts of climate
change to the coastal districts of Kien Giang?”
7 – The resource book will have references of the posters on the environment developed by
the project including suggestions of how to implement activities using the posters with
children.

9


8 – The resource book needs to have references of children’s artworks on the environment
collected from the primary schools in the project districts or elsewhere.

9 – A design of activities and games for the resource book will meet other elements as follows.
-

Options for different learning activities
Opportunities for learning participation in pairs, small groups and the whole class
Authentic tasks related to children’s real-life experiences
Opportunities for children to apply different thinking levels (Bloom taxonomy)

Opportunities for children to implement their language and mathematics
knowledge/skills. For example: Children could develop a graph of garbage locations at
the commune as below.

Graph “Garbage locations in the commune

10 – If possible, a list of other publications that are relevant to the resource book could be
developed. It will be helpful for teachers for their lesson plan preparation and teacher’s
professional development.

10


Appendix 1:

SCHOOL VISIT INFORMATION

Date

Primary
School

Commune

City/District

Participants

16/10/08

Hong Bang

Rach Gia City

Thuy
Mr. Huynh Phuc Loi (principal)
Mr. Tran Quoc Hung
(Chief of Rach Gia’s BoET)
Thuy
Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuan (BoET)
Ms. Doan Thi Giang (BoET)
Mr. Truong Van Dung (principal)
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tach
(vice principal)
Thuy
Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuan (BoET)
Ms. Doan Thi Giang (BoET)
Ms. Luong Thi Bang
(vice principal)
Thuy
Ms. Bui Thi Ly (BoET)
Mr. Le Thanh Tuan (principal)
Thuy
Ms. Bui Thi Ly (BoET)
Mr. Le Thanh Tuan (principal)
Thuy
Mr. Nguyen Van Thuong (BoET)
Mr. Dinh Thanh Vui
(vice principal)
Thuy

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuong (BoET)
Mr. Ngo Minh Thuong
(vice principal)
Thuy
Mr. Nguyen Thao Son (BoET)
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh
(principal)

17/10/08
morning

Tho Son 1

Tho Son

Hon Dat

17/10/08
morning

Hon Soc

Tho Son

Hon Dat

17/10/08
afternoon

Binh An

main school

Binh An

Kien Luong

17/10/08
afternoon

Binh An
satellite school

Binh An

Kien Luong

21/10/08
morning

Dong Yen I

Dong Yen

An Bien

21/10/08
morning

Dong Yen II

Dong Yen

An Bien

21/10/08
afternoon

Dong Hoa II

Dong Hoa

An Minh

11


Appendix 2:

11 EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR
THE GREEN, CLEAN, BEAUTIFUL SCHOOL

School:
Time for the evaluation:
No.

District:
Criteria

Maximum
points

Given points

1. Tree planting
Selecting a good location for tree planting
Having a good selection of tree breeds that are suitable
to the school and the local soil condition
Planting flowers and bonsai either on the land or in the
pots to improve the school’s beauty
Making a good condition for children and teachers to
enjoy the good shade, flowers and bonsai
Catering for the trees regularly
2. School garden
Having a garden to support children with their learning
Writing a name of each plant with notes of what the
plant is used for
3. Reducing the soil erosion
Building embankment to protect the soil from erosion
Growing grasses or planting trees to protect the soil
from erosion
Building a good drainage system
4. Garbage discharge management
Having different bins for different kinds of garbage. The
bins are decorated nicely and put in places as assigned
Having a regular garbage collection and disposal at
suitable sites
5. Sanitation areas
Building standard sanitation facilities for teachers and
children
Having enough number of sanitation facilities for

children
Keeping the sanitation areas clean on a regular basis
6. Electricity and water saving
Having standard electricity and water systems to ensure
a good source of the clean water and to minimise the
misuse of the water and the electricity
Informing children about monthly payments for the
electricity and the water to develop their awareness of
water and electricity saving
7. Having plants inside the classrooms and the
school offices
Having plants hanging on the walls of the classrooms
and school offices
Wearing masks while cleaning up the schools,

1
1
1
1
3
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
2
2

1

2
1
12


classrooms
Using chalks without dust to write on the blackboard
1
Having a good display/nice decoration of classrooms
and the school’s offices
8. Environmental protection activities
Drawing pictures, posters and developing magazines on
1
the environment.
Large pictures with a high quality for hanging on the
school’s walls could be developed
Organising meetings on the environment. Participating
1
in campaigns to raise an awareness of the environmental
protection
Having outdoor camping activities with the
1
environmental theme
9. Monitoring the improvement of the school’s
environment
Taking notes and pictures to monitor environmental
1
changes at the school yearly

Organising an exhibition of pictures on the environment
1
that were taken during the monitoring time
Encouraging children, teachers, staff, locals to
1
participate in activities to improve the school’s
environment
10. Expanding positive impacts of the environment
on the community
Inviting local experts to support the school with the
1
activity
Campaigning, developing an awareness of the
1
environmental hygiene and protection of locals
Communicating on the environmental issues with other
1
local committees, institutions
11. Other constructions (it is only applied for schools
with available conditions)
Digging a small pond (or making a beautiful rock
2
garden)
Planting a small forest areas in the school
1
Cultivating young trees, composting organic fertiliser for
1
the school and the community
Total
40

Total of given points:
Evaluation points
1. Good: from 32 points and above
2. Rather good: from 26 to 31.5 points
3. Average: from 20 to 25.5 points
4. Not available: The evaluation criteria for the title of “the Green-Clean-Beautiful
School” will not apply to a school in a difficult situation or a school is classified as a
disadvantaged school.
Date of Evaluation:

Evaluation Officer:

13


15 EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR
THE GREEN, CLEAN, BEAUTIFUL SCHOOL
School:
District:
Time for the evaluation:
Appendix 3:

No.

Criteria

Maximum
points

Given points

1. Tree planting
Selecting a good location for tree planting
Having a good selection of tree breeds that are suitable
to the school and the local soil condition
Planting flowers and bonsai either on the land or in the
pots to improve the school’s beauty
Making a good condition for children and teachers to
enjoy the good shade, flowers and bonsai
Catering for the trees regularly
2. School garden
Having a garden to support children with their learning
Writing a name of each plant with notes of what the
plant is used for
3. Reducing the soil erosion
Building embankment to protect the soil from erosion
Growing grasses or planting trees to protect the soil
from erosion
Building a good drainage system
4. Garbage discharge management
Having different bins for different kinds of garbage. The
bins are decorated nicely and put in places as assigned
Having a regular garbage collection and disposal at
suitable sites
5. Sanitation areas
Building standard sanitation facilities for teachers and
children
Having enough number of sanitation facilities for
children
Keeping the sanitation areas clean on a regular basis

6. Electricity and water saving
Having standard electricity and water systems to ensure
a good source of the clean water and to minimise the
misuse of the water and the electricity
Informing children about monthly payments for the
electricity and the water to develop their awareness of
water and electricity saving
7. Having plants inside the classrooms and the
school offices
Having plants hanging on the walls of the classrooms
and school offices
Wearing masks while cleaning up the schools,

1
1
1
1
3
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
2
2
1

2
1
14


classrooms
Using chalks without dust to write on the blackboard
8. Environmental protection activities
Drawing pictures, posters and developing magazines on
the environment.
Large pictures with a high quality for hanging on the
school’s walls could be developed
Organising meetings on the environment. Participating
in campaigns to raise an awareness of the environmental
protection
Having outdoor camping activities with the
environmental theme
9. Monitoring the improvements of the school’s
environment
Taking notes and pictures to monitor environmental
changes at the school yearly
Organising an exhibition of pictures on the environment
that were taken during the monitoring time
Encouraging children, teachers, staff, locals to
participate in activities to improve the school’s
environment
10. Expanding positive impacts of the environment
on the community
Inviting local experts to support the school with the
activity

Campaigning, developing an awareness of the
environmental hygiene and protection of locals
Communicating on the environment with other local
committees, institutions
11. Other constructions (it is only applied for schools
with available conditions)
Digging a small pond (or making a rock garden)
Planting a small forest areas in the school
Cultivating young trees, composting organic fertiliser for
the school’s trees
12. Safe learning environment
Having solid surrounding walls or tree fences for the
school security that also helps to improve the school’s
environment
Having a clean and good play ground for children’s
activities
The school is away from locals and teacher’s houses
Having no food vendors inside the school. If having a
vendor that needs to apply hygiene regulations and not
to bring any negative impact on the school’s
environment
13. The local community’s support
Keeping, maintaining and renewing the school well

1
1

1
1

1
1
1

1
1
1

2
1
1

2
1
1
1

3

15


Ensuring a sufficient supply of safe drinking water for
children and teachers
The Parent Committee helps the school to take care of
trees
14. Practicality, Civilisation, Long-term Impacts
Planting many good trees that improve the school’s
environment and give economic values (ironwood,
“Sao”, “Dầu”, “Xà Cừ”…”

Locating sanitation facilities for teachers at the school’s
working office areas
Teachers and children perform a civilizing life-style and
a good awareness of hygiene practice
15. School and Classroom Decoration

1
1

2

1
1
3

The school and classrooms are decorated following
current regulations to ensure formal and aesthetic
standards
Keeping functional rooms in well order, good hygiene
and effective working situation.
Total

2
60

Evaluation points
1. Excellent: 56 – 60 points
2. Good: 50 – 55 points
Date of Evaluation:
Evaluation Officer:

16


SCHOOL INFORMATION

Appendix 4:

School’s name: Hong Bang1 Primary school
(the school was selected for The Environment Day)
Address: 179 – Nguyen Hung Son, Rach Gia, Kien Giang
Principal’s name: Mr. Huynh Phuc Loi
Mobile: 0919 144919
A – SCHOOL INFORMATION
Grade

Children Teachers

Classes

Rooms

Kinh

Khmer

Other EM
groups

1

2
3
4
5
Total

232
257
280
293
213
1,275

6
7
7
7
6
33

23

1,263

12/8
girls

N/A

50/8 staff

Children of grades 1 and 2 take the two-shift schooling program when children of grades 3, 4
and 5 have the one-shift schooling day program. However, as the lack of classrooms, only
eitght classes of grades 1 and 2 have the two-shift program.
The school has no record of number of teachers teaching a certain grade. Teachers are
clasified as teachers of key subjects and teachers of arts, music, physical subjects.
Other functional rooms
The school has rooms for music and computer learning. Except for music as a compulsory
subject, the learning computer is based on individual children’s interests.
School’s total area: 5,500 square metre
The school playground
The area is around 2,500 – 3,000 square metre. There are a lot of big trees and chairs putting
around. Drinking/washing water source is available in the playground. The school garden is so
well planted and tendered. (See photos on pages 5 and 6)
The current situation of garbage collection by children/teachers/school staff
A permanent cleaner is working on the garbage disposal at the school. There are around more
than 10 of plastic bins and baskets putting around the playground. The cleaner has
responsibilities to put the bins out to be collected by local trucks.
Garbage bins

1

Hong Bang School is currently clarified as a National Standard School

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Two kinds of colored bins are used at the school – red bins for hard garbage (bottles…) and
green bins for leaves and papers.
Garbage disposal methods

Children clean up the classrooms and dispose garbage in the plastic bins put in front of the
classrooms. The cleaner will collect the garbage and sort bottles and papers to sell for her own
extra income.
Extra curriculum activities on the environment at the school
”Keeping the school clean” is a key theme being applied well in the school. Every Monday
morning, the principal talks about the issue on the school’s environment to children. Recently
on the World’s Environment Day, 5th of June, the children participated in activities like
drawing pictures, role play and storytelling.

“Sharing your old toys” was a theme for an activity to develop children’s concept of

renewing/reusing and recycling materials at the school. The school had set up a Fair where
children brought along their old toys to share/to give/to exchange with their friends from the
school or other schools. The old toys were even tendered by locals to get some scholarships
for poor children.
The school’s available documentation on the school environment is a list of 10 standards
designed by the DoET. Signs and the poster designed by the school are put around the school.
B –INFORMATION FOR THE ORGANISATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
DAY
Number of children recommended by the school for the Day activities
It is suggested to have around 90 children of grades 3, 4 and 5 attending the Day.
Number of teachers involving with the Day
Teachers of the subjects of Arts, Science and Social-Natural will attend. Around 30 teachers
will participate in activities of the Day
Number of staff supporting the Day
The school will appoint teachers and cleaner for the specific tasks as below.
™
™
™
™

™

guest greeting
security
refreshment
garbage collection…
supervision of children’s activities and display of their works

Number of guests that the school can accommodate

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Up to 50 guests whom the school can have for the Day. The BoET suggests they would
have around 20 representatives from other schools/districts. Those participants will learn
and implement this model activity in their schools later.
Guests whom the school would like to invite for the Day
- The school would like to invite 2 representatives from the Parent Committee.
- Chief of the BoET would like to have around 20 people from other schools and Boats.
Time for the Day
- The Day should start around 7.30 and no later than that for children.
- It is agreed that children will go back for lunch around 11.00 am and then come back around
2.00 for the material display.
- It is also agreed to have refreshments (water, cakes or fruit)
Materials will be prepared by the school: (Burner? Resources? Children’s works on the
environment)
- The school suggests GTZ to prepare a banner for the Day’s theme, date …
- The posters will be hang around with children’s works on the environment.
- There are around 36 art works on the environment in A3 size by children being available at
the school.

(I keep them here to see whether we could frame some of them for display on the Day).
- ES will consider where to hang the posters and children’s arts on the 5th Nov. 2008.
Refreshment will be prepared by the school
The school would like to ask for GTZ’s support with a budget for the refreshments (water and
fruit) for around 90 children, 30 teachers and 40 guests.
School’s electric facilities
The electricity source is also supplied by the Provincial Electricity Company. In case of having
no the electricity, the school can have an electric supply from a center of regular education
located nearby.
Electric generator
It is recommended by the principal that a small generator needs to be ready if there is no
electricity for the Environment Day. The small generator will be only used for the sound
equipment.
School’s parking lot for children/teachers and guests
The parking lot for teachers’ motorbike and children’s bikes are inside the school entrance.
Cars and motorbikes of guests coming for the Day will park along the streets outside.
Facilities (board, tables…) for display (posters, pictures, resources)

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It is recommended by the principal and Head of Bureau of Education and Training (BoET)
that the posters, children’s works… could be hang up on the trees around the playground. The
school has a large public display board with a cover that is also used for the display of
children’s works.
Chairs for children/teachers and guests
Available for a recommended number of children/teachers and visitors (See “B - Information
for the organisation of the Environment Day”)
Restrooms for children, teachers, guests
Available.

It is noted that the school has restrooms for boys and girls.
The facilities of restrooms are in a basic situation. A plan for reconstruction is already made
for the next year.
C - OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION RECOMMENDED BY THE SCHOOL
What GTZ will do?
-

-

Information of activities for the Day should be given to the school, Rach Gia’s
BoET and DoET as soon as possible for an understanding of what will be
happening at the school.
Information of number of the guests invited by GTZ and PMB
A banner for the Day
The posters
Refreshments
Stationery for children’s activities (thick papers of A4, A3 and A0 sizes, colored
pencils/wax crayons or oil pastels, clue, tapes, string…)
Communication with the Television broadcasting department.

Will the school help to collect banana leaves for the Day recommended by ES?
The school will buy banana and lotus leaves for activities recommended by ES.
Will the school like to have the set of eight posters on the environment… for
references? They do.

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Some photos of Hong Bang School

Playground

Playground

School garden

Playground

Large bins
Small bin

Bottle collection

Garbage

21


“Keep the school clean and put the
garbage in the bin”

Place to put garbage bins out for trucks
to collect

The water

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SCHOOL INFORMATION

District: Hon Dat
Name of Chief of Bureau of Education & Training (BoET): Mr. Nguyen Van Bay
BoET’s Primary Education Officer: Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuan
Office phone number: 077 3841014
I – School’s Information
School’s name: Tho Son I Primary School
The School Principal: Mr. Truong Van Dung
The Vice School Principal: Ms. Nguyen Thi Tach
School’s phone number: 077 3843603
Grade

Children

Teachers

Classes

1
2
3
4
5

62
52
63
58
57

2

2
2
2
2

2
2
2
2
2

Total

292

22

10

Rooms

7

Commune: Tho Son

Kinh/girls Khmer/girls Other EM
groups

193

99

2 (Hoa)

Notes:
- Around 50% of poor children of the school were from Khmer families.
-

The class completion rate of Khmer children was 90%. Khmer children did not
perform well the Vietnamese language at the school, especially those of grades 1 and 2.
Their learning experiences were also limited compared with those of Kinh children.

-

Five of 22 teachers were teachers of Arts, Music, English/Khmer languages.

-

The school has been trying to achieve a title of “the National Standard School” in the
year of 2008.

-

The school had some functional rooms for music, arts, computer, health check-up and
library.

-

The school has received a title of “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” from the
DoET, Kien Giang for two years.

-

At this school, children were expected to contribute 30,000 VND per one school year.

II – Community’s Information
The school had no reference of the total of population of ward or commune at the time of the
visit.
According to the vice principal, poor Khmer households have been supported by the 135
Program. The Program supported them with new house construction, small loans and cow

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breeding technique. Some local companies also made donations to buy textbooks and school
uniforms for poor Khmer children.
The Bear Protection Garden was built nearby the school.
The school was away from the main road and its surrounding areas was quite green and clean.
III – Current Practice of Garbage Disposal
The practice of garbage classification - “inorganic” and “organic” has been applied for children.
Two kinds of bins with the labels of “inorganic garbage” and “organic garbage” were put around the
school. Plastic baskets for classrooms were also available.

The school also developed two drawings on cleaning activities and one slogan “Do not litter”
putting on the walls. It was seen that those materials were not well kept.

Children of grades 3, 4 and 5 of the school were responsible for the garbage collection. Those
children were supplied masks on the garbage collection duty. The school also practised the
burning of the garbage in the hole. They were planning to build an underground base for
garbage disposal but there was no source of budget.

The implementation of “Recycle, Renew, Reuse” has not been introduced to children yet.
Last year, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment gave 1,000,000 VND to
one of the satellite schools. The money helped the school to organise activities for children
following the theme “the Environment Protection”. A large number of drawings on the
environment were made by children on that day. However, at present no picture was available
at the school.

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The library school had a small collection of published materials on the environment protection
including one poster and three children’s drawings as follows.

IV – Current Resources/Teaching Programs on the Garbage, Climate Change and
Biodiversity
The school had the list of 11 standards on how to keep the school green and clean issued by
the DoET.
Resources on the environment protection, climate change and biodiversity conservation have
not been developed either by the school or the BoET. Children of grades 4 and 5 could
develop their knowledge of climate change, the impact of CO2 emission, biodiversity when
learning the Science subject.
References of Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve Areas could only be taught to children in
Geography subject if teachers implement 15% of the flexibility of the curriculum for the local
knowledge.
IV – School’s Recommendations
-

Reference books on Climate change, Biodiversity and Environment Protection for
teachers and children

-

Supply of standard bins

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