Illiteracy eradication at the border

Captain Ho Van Di, Trung Ly Border Guard Station, during a teaching session in a literacy class.

As one of the border communes with the largest area and the most difficult socio-economic conditions of Muong Lat district, Trung Ly commune has 15 villages, distributed over dozens of kilometers. The distance from the commune center to the farthest village (Ta Com village) is about 50km of forest road, with many Mong ethnic people living there. Along with that, the awareness of a part of the people is still limited, causing many people, especially women, to not know how to read or write.

From that situation, in recent years, the Party Committee and Command of Trung Ly Border Guard Station have always paid attention to and focused on doing a good job of eliminating illiteracy and preventing re-illiteracy for the people in the area. Following the leadership and direction of the Party Committee, the Provincial Border Guard Command, the District Party Committee and the People's Committee of Muong Lat District, every year Trung Ly Border Guard Station has developed plans, consulted and closely coordinated with the local Party Committee and authorities to implement them.

Major Le Van Thien, Political Commissar of Trung Ly Border Guard Station, said: “The task of eliminating illiteracy and preventing re-illiteracy for the people is a difficult and long-term task. First of all, we must change people's awareness and make them determined to "conquer letters". The unit has coordinated with local departments, branches and organizations, especially the commune's Women's Union, to deploy many propaganda and mobilization measures for the people; sending cadres to each family to mobilize and persuade people to participate in literacy classes, with the spirit of "those who are not literate should go to school, those who already know should study more to avoid re-illiteracy".

In carrying out the task of participating in eliminating illiteracy for the people, officers and soldiers of Trung Ly Border Guard Station have not been afraid of difficulties, actively mobilizing and persuading people to attend literacy classes. Thanks to that active and proactive participation, from 2022 to now, Trung Ly Border Guard Station has coordinated to open 5 literacy classes for more than 150 people. Currently, the unit is maintaining a literacy class for people in Ta Com village, the class takes place in the evenings on weekdays. In the coming time, the unit will coordinate to open more literacy classes for Mong people in Na On, Xa Lao, Ca Giang, Canh Cong villages...

Captain Ho Van Di, Trung Ly Border Guard Station, said: "When we are not yet full, mobilizing people to go to class is not a matter of "a morning or an afternoon". During the process of teaching literacy, the unit's staff has made efforts to overcome difficulties to complete the task well. The most impressive thing for me is the female student born in 1965, a Mong ethnic group, who overcame the age barrier, for 3 months she persevered and persistently went to class, practiced each stroke and then learned to read and write. For me, teaching literacy to the people is a regular job and I always try to "leave no one behind" due to illiteracy".

In Pu Dua village, Quang Chieu commune (Muong Lat), there are currently 75 Mong ethnic households, of which 8 are poor and the rest are near-poor. In recent years, thanks to the attention of the Party, the State, local authorities and border guards, the lives of the villagers have gradually improved, public works have been invested in and put into use, and the appearance of the new rural area has been constantly improved. However, because people rarely use the common language in communication, the rate of illiteracy and re-illiteracy is still high, especially women and children. Therefore, the work of eliminating illiteracy has been focused on and promoted by the border guard station, gradually removing difficulties to organize classes to eliminate illiteracy and prevent re-illiteracy for people in Pu Dua village. After a busy day of farming, starting at 7 pm, the women in Pu Dua village go together over hills and mountains to the village cultural house to learn "letters". The class has nearly 40 students, mostly women, the oldest being around 60 years old. Some are learning to read and write for the first time, some have been taught to read and write by border guards before, but have forgotten and are now learning again. From the self-consciousness and apprehension of the first days of class, now most of the students in the literacy class are very eager and happy to wait for class.

According to statistics, in 11 mountainous districts in the upper Thanh Hoa region, there are currently more than 12,000 people aged 15 to 60 who are level 2 illiterate. Some districts have a high number of illiterate people such as: Muong Lat, Quan Son, Thuong Xuan, Thach Thanh, Nhu Thanh...

There are still many difficulties and more community cooperation is needed for people in mountainous and border areas to improve their knowledge. However, the work that officers and soldiers of Thanh Hoa border posts stationed in the border area are doing to help people, including literacy classes, is the clearest evidence, affirming the solidarity and attachment between border soldiers and people of all ethnic groups in the border areas of the Fatherland.

Article and photos: Hoang Lan

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/xoa-mu-chu-noi-bien-gioi-244089.htm