Eliminating bad customs, building a new lifestyle

Economic development is identified as a “lever” that helps mountainous districts achieve the goal of completely eliminating backward customs. Although changing the perceptions and traditional habits of a part of the people is not easy, with specific policies and the concentration of resources, the determination of the entire political system of Tan Son district in improving the lives of ethnic minorities has been demonstrated.

Dao Tien ethnic people in Coi village, Xuan Son National Park, preserve the art of printing patterns with beeswax.

Common awareness of the community

One of the important contents of the village covenant and convention is to record good customs and practices and propose solutions to limit and eventually eliminate backward and superstitious customs and practices. This is the premise for 100% of residential areas in Tan Son district to build village covenants, which set out a number of strong measures to fight against backward customs.

Visiting Thach Kiet commune these days, we met Ms. Phung Thi Toan, Head of Minh Nga Ward, in a propaganda class on preventing and combating child marriage and incestuous marriage organized by the district’s Ethnic Affairs Department. While carefully taking notes in her notebook, Ms. Toan said, "We have to update our knowledge. In case the regulations of the village covenant are no longer suitable, we will mobilize people to change them."

Minh Nga ward has 145 households, all of whom are Dao people, including 50 poor and near-poor households. The darkness of poverty once brought with it many long-standing customs here, the most prominent of which is child marriage. To change people’s awareness and put an end to the situation of Dao teenagers getting married before they are old enough, Ms. Toan and representatives of the residential area proposed to build a village covenant. In which, if any family has a child who is underage and gets married, the village will not allow the shaman to come to the ceremony, and local party officials and members are not allowed to come to drink wine to celebrate. From 2022 to now, the whole area has only one case of underage marriage. With specific and drastic measures, the situation of early marriage in Tan Son district has been pushed back. From 2019 to 2021, the whole district had 1,419 married couples, of which only 20 were early marriages (accounting for 1.4%); consanguineous marriages have been completely eliminated.

In addition to the strict village covenant and convention, the role of village elders, village chiefs, and prestigious people is very important in mobilizing people to learn and implement the new lifestyle. Coming to Kiet Son, the asphalt roads are straight, the street lights are bright at night, and security cameras are installed from houses to main roads. The rural landscape has improved a lot—that is the pride that comrade Ha Thanh Minh, former Party Secretary and Chairman of the People’s Council of Kiet Son commune, shared.

One of the memories that Mr. Minh remembers most during his working years is campaigning and asking for signatures from neighboring communes to build high schools for local children. In the 80s of the last century, the whole Thanh Son district (before the district was divided) had only 3 high schools. Students in Kiet Son who wanted to go to high school had to travel dozens of kilometers to get to school, so many of them dropped out of school, stayed home, and got married early. Mr. Minh, who was then Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Kiet Son commune, rode his bike to personally ask for nine signatures from nine neighboring commune chairmen to commit to mobilizing children in the commune to go to school. The handwritten commitment with 9 signatures later became an important premise for the establishment of Thach Kiet High School (the predecessor of Tan Son High School today).

The light of letters and knowledge has motivated the youth of Kiet Son commune in particular and Tan Son district in general to strive to build a better future. The quality of education and training in the district is constantly improving. Job introduction and vocational training for rural workers are focused on. In the first 6 months of 2024, the rate of trained and vocationally trained workers reached 59.2% (an increase of 1.3% compared to 2023), and the rate of workers with degrees, certificates, and certifications reached 31.8% (an increase of 0.9% compared to 2023).

Heads of residential areas and people of Thach Kiet commune, Tan Son district, participated in a class on preventing early marriage and incestuous marriage organized by the district’s Ethnic Affairs Department.

Building a new lifestyle

In 2022-2023, Tan Son district has allocated nearly one billion VND in public funds to invest in a program to reduce child marriage and consanguineous marriage in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Dozens of training courses, communication campaigns, seminars, and competitions have been organized for hundreds of cadres, heads of residential areas, and ethnic minorities to access regulations related to the prevention and control of child marriage and consanguineous marriage.

Regarding the implementation of the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2025 period (National Target Program 1719), Tan Son district has deployed the program in 17/17 communes, 171/172 villages, and hamlets in the district’s ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Meeting Mr. Chao A Chua, Secretary of the Youth Union of My A area, Thu Cuc commune, in the last days of July, he was excited: In the whole My A area, there are now only two cases of marriage before the age of 18. That is great progress compared to before.“My A area has 100% Mong population; this place used to be a”black spot" of poverty and backward customs in Tan Son mountainous district. The district has devoted many resources and attention to the people here to help them escape poverty, bringing a brighter and more joyful color to the village on the mountainside.

“Peaceful Mong village” in My A area has been deployed since 2021, with the district police force as the core, actively contributing to propagating to the people the Party’s guidelines, policies, and laws of the state; mobilizing people to abandon bad customs, build a new life, and protect village security. The shamans and sorcerers who represent the old are the pioneers in encouraging people to abolish backward customs and learn new ways of life in the lowlands. Village elder Sung A Vang said: “I have 7 sons, but it was not until the third one, when he was over 20 years old, that I allowed him to get married and have children. Now, the MyA people do not have as many children as before. Having fewer children helps develop the economy and raise children well.”

Not only creating a new way of life in culture, the youth force is the core of the startup movement. Currently, the whole district has more than 10 startup models of young people that are bringing high economic efficiency. This is a good sign, showing that the policies on developing education and building a new cultural life have been effective.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Toan, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Committee of Tan Son District, said: "Eliminating long-standing bad customs among ethnic minorities is not an easy task; it is necessary to persistently implement many solutions suitable to the lives, psychology, and awareness of the people. In the coming time, the district will continue to mobilize the participation of the entire political system, focusing on advocacy and propaganda work, focusing on preserving and maintaining good traditional cultural values, but also strictly handling acts of intentional violation of the law to deter and completely eliminate backward bad customs that hinder socio-economic development.".

With the concentration of resources and the high determination of the entire political system, the people and ethnic minorities of Tan Son district are gradually improving the quality of life, learning new ways of thinking and doing business to completely eliminate bad customs, creating momentum for future development.

Thuy Trang