Most people in Loa Cai Province are poor subsistence farmers and many poor families consider children's labour as more valuable than school attendance. Education is free, but parents can barely afford the associated costs of educating their children - especially in remote ares - where many children have to board. Once there many schools are unable to provide a good quality education for children as the funding is very limited and many teaching methods used are out of date.

Oxfam is training teachers in child-centered teaching methods (CCM) and developing child-friendly schools in the remote districts. Working to expand this across the whole province, we are training a core group of Provincial Teacher-trainers. These trainers coach Model Teachers - as experts in CCM in each school - who train their colleagues. We are also demonstrating to the government simple but effective ways to support ethnic minority children - especially girls - to complete their education.