2 years into implementation, WET (Water Education for Teachers) becomes part of the standard school curriculum in Vietnam

Ringing school bells to wake up the community on water resources protection
Do Luong is a very small primary school in district three, Ho Chi Minh City. The school is next to a polluted canal with contaminated water; its banks are bare of vegetation, and it is covered with clouds of dust and smoke from passing vehicles (e.g., trucks and scooters). The pupils there have to cope with the terrible odor from the canal, which can cause a headache, and visitors to the school wonder how children can stand this environment.

Unfortunately, there is nothing unique about this place; the scene is similar in many neighborhoods throughout Ho Chi Minh City.

Two years ago, water conservation awareness and environmental protection wasn’t widely recognized by the education authorities. If you asked any student in Ho Chi Minh City, “what is the most finite of valuable natural resources?” The answers were: “oil,”, “fish,” “forestry,” “gold” but not “clean water”. Not even students of Do Luong school, near the polluted canal, could think of “water”. However, things have changed since the WET program was launched in 2005. All leaking water taps in the school have been fixed; all taps are closed tightly after used; and each student in Do Luong can answer “water “ when they are asked the question above.

WET came to Ho Chi Minh City in 2005, through cooperation between La Vie Company and the Department of Education & Training in Ho Chi Minh City. The pilot program started in four selected schools, reaching 280 students in the first run (Do Luong is one of them, the other three are in suburban sprawling areas where water resources have been badly abused). This pilot experience was welcomed and successful.

During the second year, the program got one step bigger with 12 more schools and more students. Indeed, if we compare the number of schools in the program to the total number of schools in Ho Chi Minh City, we still have a long way to go (Ho Chi Minh City has 458 primary schools). Nevertheless, the second run confirmed the acceptability of the WET programme to the teachers and the education authorities in Ho Chi Minh City. Moreover, the strong relationship and goodwill created by the first experiences developed into a project to use WET tools and concepts as an official part of the science curriculum in grade four. Then water and environment conservation will really be embedded into the primary education curriculum.

The ripple effect of this programme is that water conservation awareness is transferred from the pupils to their family and their community. This happens through discussions at home about the fun WET activities they experienced at school (this is new in Vietnam, where teaching is usually not interactive), or during extra-curricular activities such as the Water Festival organized by schools and La Vie Company.

Project WET is on track to become a successful example of cooperation between a corporate sponsor and an education system. With the know-how acquired in the first two years, and the willingness to make an impact on citizen environmental behavior, WET’s future in Vietnam looks bright!

Figures

• Four pilot schools in 2005-2006
• 12 primary schools in 2006-2007
• Two WET workshops for teachers and school principals
• One water festival day (2000 children attended)
• Three factory visits in 2007
• Over 100 educators trained on WET tools and concepts
• 5,600 pupils attended the programme since 2005