Safe and meaningful summer

For children, summer is a time to rest and play after a school year. However, this period also harbors potential risks of injuries, drowning, and other hazards affecting children’s health and safety. Therefore, right after the school year ended, localities across the province proactively implemented life skills training, health care, and beneficial playgrounds for children.

In Mường Pồn commune, dissemination sessions on injury and drowning prevention were organized before the summer break through experiential, hands-on activities and real-life situation handling. Through these, students were equipped with knowledge about the causes of drowning, prevention skills, emergency response methods, and self-protection measures. In just one week of implementation, the youth unions of Mường Mươn Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding Secondary School, Mường Pồn Secondary School, Mường Mươn Primary School No.1, and Mường Mươn Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding Primary School No.2 successfully educated 1,763 students.

Along with life skills training, healthcare for children, especially those in difficult circumstances, continues to receive significant attention. In the early days of June, the screening area at the provincial General Hospital became busier than usual as hundreds of parents brought their children for examinations under “The Journey of Sowing Green Seeds of Hope” campaign. Following screening processes at medical facilities, 370 children with various forms of disabilities were invited to the hospital for specialized examinations, consultations, treatment, and surgery.

Giàng Khải Đăng, 6 years old, currently cared for at the provincial General Social Protection Facility, sat quietly next to his caregivers. Orphaned at a young age and suffering from crossed eyes for many years, Giàng Khải Đăng was prescribed corrective eye surgery after his check-up. For him, this is an opportunity to improve his vision and gain more confidence in his studies and life. According to Lò Thị Tuyến, Deputy Director of the Provincial General Social Protection Facility, the free examination, treatment, and surgery program has helped many children in especially difficult circumstances improve their health and ease their disadvantages in life.

In Sam Mứn commune, a alternative approach is bringing a meaningful summer to local children. Every morning from Monday to Friday, the campus of the commune General Service Center buzzes with the laughter of children participating in summer talent classes. Chess and badminton classes for students aged 9 to 15 have attracted more than 30 participants. These sessions help them practice physical fitness, develop thinking, form positive lifestyle habits, and gain more opportunities to exchange and make friends during the summer.

Lê Ngọc Hoàn, Vice Chairman of the Sam Mứn commune People’s Committee, stated that the locality desires to create more safe and beneficial playgrounds for children and youth during the summer. Through these activities, children have the opportunity to develop their talents, network, learn, and utilize their summer vacation more effectively.

Building “shield” to protect children

Điện Biên currently has more than 208,200 children under 16 years old, accounting for about 31% of the province’s total population. Along with social development, child protection work is facing many new challenges. Besides the risks of injuries, drowning, violence, and child abuse, the online environment has become an area requiring special attention. While the Internet and social networks help children access knowledge, connect, and learn conveniently, they also harbor numerous risks such as toxic information, online scams, cyberbullying, or the risk of personal data leaks.

Facing this reality, schools across the province have stepped up dissemination and education on safe internet usage through extracurricular and collective activities. Students are guided to identify misinformation, protect personal data, and behave in a civilized manner in the cyber environment.

Alongside the involvement of schools and functional agencies, the family remains the closest and most effective “shield” for children. The family of Hoàng Thị Hồng Trang in residential group 9, Mường Thanh ward, always spends time talking, listening, and guiding her children in using phones, the Internet, and social networks. Instead of enforcing prohibitions, she chooses to accompany her two sons, helping them recognize potential risks in the online environment to build self-protection skills. Parents’ care and listening help children raise their awareness of self-protection and proactively share when facing difficulties.

Over the past years, Điện Biên province has deployed many programs for child care, education, and protection, paying special attention to poor children, ethnic minority children, and children in special circumstances. Specifically, at the launch ceremony of the Action Month for Children in 2026, the Provincial Child Support Fund received VND 745 million from agencies, units, businesses, and benefactors to support and protect disadvantaged local children.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyễn Minh Phú emphasized that comprehensive child protection is a task for the entire political system and society. To implement this work effectively, it is necessary to continue raising the awareness and responsibility of all levels and sectors, boost communication, life skills education, and self-protection skills for children, and promptly detect and support children at risk of abuse, violence, or injury, while creating more safe and healthy learning, training, and playing environments.

When families, schools, and communities join hands in action, the “shield” protecting children will become increasingly solid, helping Điện Biên’s children grow up in a safe, healthy, and happy environment.