Dao Thi Huyen teaches in a difficult area where 75% of the students are ethnic minority children. At the beginning of each school year, she and the other teachers of Ea Trul primary school visit each student’s family to encourage them to send their child to school.

“Ethnic minority students often miss school because of difficult family circumstances or because their parents work far away. We want them to learn how to read and write,” said Huyen.

Principal Nguyen Van Tien said that this academic year Ea Trul school has set a goal of getting all 650 students to attend class.

To that end, the school has organized regular meetings with head teachers and asked them to coordinate with local authorities and social organizations to persuade students to come to class, and arranged for benefactors to help disadvantaged students financially.

Tien said  the school has worked with local administrations and charity organizations to provide grade 4 textbooks and clothing.

“The provincial Department of Education and Training and the Dak Lak Book and Educational Equipment Company have given first graders free textbooks. We have also worked with the parents' association to buy 500 notebooks and pens to give to students at the beginning of the school year,” Tien added.

According to Huynh Viet Trung, head of the district Education and Training Section, this year the district's facilities and teachers meet the standards of the new general education program. Students are maintaining good attendance.

But schools still need to coordinate with local administrations to persuade parents to make sure their children attend school, he said.

“We’ve been successful in getting students in disadvantaged areas to come to school. After the start of the new academic year, we’ll continue to work on persuading those students who aren’t coming to school regularly to improve their attendance,” Trung noted.