Security at schools

Sexual violence in conflict becomes more serious in the face of Covid-19. Conflict-related sexual violence became thorny at an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on April 14 as all participants took it a critical opportunity to take stock of the issue in order to eradicate the scourge of it. The open debate, which was hosted by Vietnam, the UNSC President for the month of April, drew attention to the chronic underreporting of wartime sexual violence, especially at a time being compounded by Covid-19 containment measures. The participants thanked Vietnam for keeping this important topic on the agenda of the Council. Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations said the victims should be assisted to access psychological, medical, training and legal services, integrate into the community and seek livelihood sources. He emphasized the need to take a comprehensive approach to the problem, noting the prevention and full and equal participation of women in decision-making and peace processes, much-needed development assistance, capacity-building, technical support and training. Meanwhile, UN Under-Secretary-General Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, stressed the need of prevention, saying that “prevention is the best and only cure” to stem the multiple, devastating and enduring consequences faced by survivors of sexual violence in conflict, especially as a brutal tactic of war. Citing over 2,500 UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 18 countries last year alone, Patten said there was a “chasm between resolutions and reality”. She mentioned the long litany of battles fought on the bodies of women and girls in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Syria and other places to remind others of what they did to honor their commitments to solving the problem. The Delegation of the EU to UN said they owe this to all victims and …

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The C04 and local police also determined 106 major drug trafficking routes, 169 complicated places of drug crimes and 2,000 suspects in the above-mentioned localities. According to Major General Nguyen Van Vien, Head of the Ministry of Public Security's Drug Crime Investigation Department (C04), the traffickers are increasingly sophisticated acts and tricks to camouflage and hide their drugs. They often sign in to social networks for trading so the functional forces are difficult in the detection, arrestment, investigation and handling. Police forces arrest many suspects related to drug trafficking violations. Regarding the fight against drug crimes, Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong, Deputy Minister of Public Security suggested that the functional agencies should further connect with local police forces to get achievements in anti-drug operations. The information was released at a summary conference about the Ministry of Public Security’s anti-drug criminal plan. By Chi Thach- Translated by Huyen Huong …

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Implementing an English teaching programme for 1st and 2nd graders at primary schools (Source: bacgiang.gov.vn) Bac Giang (VNA) - Northern Bac Giang province is set to bolster English teaching at local schools, according to the provincial People’s Committee. Bac Giang province aims to deploy a 10-year English teaching programme at all local schools by 2025, while encouraging the introduction of English modules at qualified kindergartens and in Grades 1 and 2 at 20% of local primary schools. The province encourages specialised classes at gifted schools teaching natural science subjects like maths, physics, chemistry and biology in English. Bac Giang also sets a target of all English teachers at local schools meeting national foreign language capacity standards by the 2024-2025 academic year. In order to realise these goals, the provincial Department of Education and Training in cooperation with relevant agencies has hosted training classes to improve the English skills of teachers, inviting native speaking experts and high-quality foreign language training centres to train local teachers. The province has also mobilised social resources to build schools and classrooms for English training. The education sector has also allocated part of the provincial budget to equip specialised English-teaching classrooms at schools currently lacking them. In the time to come, Bac Giang is determined to speed up the reform of teaching methodology, aggressively apply information technology in teaching and learning, build standardised schools for English teaching at all levels, and enhance extracurricular programmes for English practice among students, such as speaking contests, debates, and outings, etc. Such activities are expected to improve the quality of English teaching in the province. Coupled with assessing the English capabilities of final-year students at each school, the Bac Giang provincial Department of Education and Training will also focus on expanding …

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