The school year 2016-2017 has seen the creation of a special tradition where nearly 1,000 school girls in grade 9 of several secondary schools in Thanh Xuan District wear white ao dai to school. The new tradition has left a major impression in the parents and people. Not only school girls, female teachers of secondary schools also respond to the program which is now deemed a step forward to promoting the beauty of the capital city’s culture.
The beauty of the youth
According to Mr. Pham Gia Huu, head of the Education and Training Office of Thanh Xuan District, the tradition where school girls and female teachers wear white ao dai to school had been piloted in the school year 2015-2016 at Ha Dinh secondary school and Viet Nam – Algeria secondary school following the Thanh Xuan Education and Training Development Scheme for 2016-2020. The change not only received positive responses from female teachers and school girls, but also gained interest and support from the parents and people. The change in school uniform brought good news. When wearing the traditional costume, the behaviors and attitudes of teachers and students changed significantly. Each of them became more aware of the need to preserve and cherish the images of the schools and the education and training sector.
It was based on these positive changes that the Education and Training Office of Thanh Xuan District decided to expand the model of female teachers and school girls wearing white ao dai 3 days per week onto all other secondary schools in the district.
Besides expanding the scale of the model, the leaders of Thanh Xuan District also actively expressed their concern in the establishment of a beautiful impression of school girls by giving each student a school bag at the beginning of the school year 2016-2017. Mrs. Canh Bach Yen, principal of Vietnam – Algeria secondary school, thought that such gesture was a huge encouragement and also a form of expressing the leaders’ expectation in creating changes in the sense of responsibility and attitude of teachers and students in order to gain improvement in the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Each school member was expected to be more aware of his/her responsibility in building and maintaining a good impression of his/herself and of the school. In fact, the changes have been observed in students over nearly one school year, starting from the small gestures like towing the bikes by hand instead of driving them across the school grounds, keeping order in the libraries, greeting school visitors, and so on.
Hanoian school girls looking radiant in white ao dai
Not only schools in Thanh Xuan District, many units under Hanoi Department of Education and Training also expressed their interest in this model as it helped create a beautiful image of the teacher in the eyes of the people, parents, and students. Prior to the change, female teachers only wore ao dai on special occasions during the school year. Nowadays, the image of a teacher wearing ao dai has become more popular. Ao dai even became the teacher uniform of many schools in the city. At Trung Vuong Secondary School (Hoan Kiem District), even though no mandatory regulations apply, most head teachers wear ao dai for parent meetings. This gesture not only reflects the teachers’ respect for the parents, but also contributes to building and preserving the beautiful image of a people’s teacher with pleasant style and exemplary and ethical behaviors.
Mrs. Tran Thi Thu Ha, Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Hanoi’s Education and Training sector, said that ao dai was not merely a beautiful costume for Vietnamese women in general and for Hanoi women in particular, but also an inspiration for every teacher to positively self-improve in all aspects. Hanoi Department of Education and Training has issued guidance on the implementation of the Code of Conduct for officials, civil servants, and staff members in relation to the “Year of the Administrative Discipline of 2017”, clearly stipulating the dress, behaviors, and attitudes allowed when working with parents and people. This is a prerequisite for both teachers and students to build and promote the beauty of the traditional culture of elegant Hanoians.
Minh Duc