The classroom experience of many children in Vietnam leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of the happy buzz of varied activities, group working, and experimentation we’re used to in the West, Vietnamese children sit quietly, facing the front, and learn by rote. But a teacher-training programme in Tra Vinh province is set to change all that and bring a new child-friendly approach into the classroom.

At 15, Asiya Etenin, may seem a little old to be in primary school, but she’s thrilled to be there – an opportunity that was beyond her dreams just a few years ago. “I thought I was created to fetch water, take care of younger children, and serve my family and get married,” she says.

Then Oxfam started working with her community leaders and district education department to build a local school, and they made it especially ‘girl-friendly’ to encourage more girls into school. They built separate latrines for girls and boys and also established a new water point in the village so that girls don’t have to spend so many hours a day collecting their family’s water.

Asiya was one of the first to enrol, although there was some resistance to girls’ education within the community. She says they began to change their views as they began to see the fruit: “When my father wants to write a letter to his relative living in Sudan, I write it in a good way. When a letter comes to him I read and translate for my father to our local language.” Now there are equal numbers of boys and girls attending the schools. Asiya’s schooling may have started late, but now she is rightfully proud and ambitious.