Child “voters” delegates exchange opinions at a meeting to prepare for the second mock session of the Children’s National Assembly – Photo: K.ANH
The “national assembly delegates” and child “voters” discussed three issues that are of great concern to young people: Preventing school violence, creating a safe and healthy environment for children; Preventing the harmful effects of tobacco and stimulants in the school environment; Developing children’s music in Ho Chi Minh City today.
Students need to be equipped with the skills to recognize and refuse when tempted to use addictive substances. The school environment must be more closely monitored, promptly detected and handled, and severely dealt with behaviors related to the use of electronic cigarettes and addictive substances.
Delegate VU NGOC MAI ANH
School violence – damage from the internet
National Assembly child delegate Tran Huynh Nhu said school violence is no longer uncommon, and is even constantly increasing, penetrating many levels of education. Huynh Nhu cited information from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), which estimates that every year up to 246 million children are subjected to violence at school.
And school violence is not simply physical violence but also verbal violence and mental violence. Cyber violence is a story worth thinking about in the digital age with extremely serious consequences for children.
Huynh Nhu cited the story of online violence because according to her, students’ space on social networks has not been strictly controlled.
“I hope this problem is resolved thoroughly because it is urgent to build a happy school for children” – Nhu said.
Sharing solutions, Nhu said that students themselves need to equip themselves with skills to face and prevent violence, know how to regulate their emotions and avoid unnecessary conflicts.
Parents need to pay more attention and talk more to understand their children’s psychology.
“It is necessary to strictly handle cases of school violence as a deterrent, along with many activities to create a living space for students” – Nhu expressed her opinion.
Agreeing on the need to condemn school violence, especially online violence, delegate Le Huynh Tram said that school violence has recently increased and has had serious effects on victims of both physical and mental violence.
According to Tram, there are many causes, but they can include family influence, academic and social pressure, lack of emotional management skills, influence from friends and the surrounding environment, social networks and media, lack of intervention from school…
“The consequences will cause the victim to suffer mental trauma and have poor academic performance. As for the perpetrator, there will be feelings of guilt and pressure, which can lead to long-term violent behavior,” Tram analyzed.
Students really need playgrounds and real-life experiences outside of the school environment – Photo: QL
Why do adults sell e-cigarettes to students?
The reason for asking this question is because delegate Nguyen Ngoc Ngan believes that more and more middle school students are using electronic cigarettes. Ngan said that although they have not been licensed for sale, new generation cigarettes are being sold widely on the market, especially online, to an alarming extent.
“This situation can be seen as the existence of a legal gap in the management of new generation tobacco products. That has been creating conditions for individuals and organizations trading in tobacco to easily approach young customers” – Ngan raised the issue.
Not to mention grocery stores and street vendors still freely sell traditional cigarettes to people under 18. Proposing a solution, Ngan said that it is necessary to minimize all conditions and environments where students can access cigarettes and stimulants.
Along with that, mobilize the participation of the Youth Union, the Young Pioneers, schools, families, and the community to propagate and educate about the harmful effects of tobacco. In particular, it is necessary to promote the responsibility of local authorities in state management of this situation.
In fact, there have been students who have been hospitalized for using e-cigarettes, but many still use them. Opinions say that it is because of competition and curiosity that they try them and then become addicted.
“Users are getting younger and younger because many students have the wrong idea, considering this a way to show off their style, ignoring the fact that e-cigarettes contain many toxic chemicals that are dangerous to the user’s health and affect those around them,” said delegate Vu Ngoc Mai Anh.
There must be a synchronous measure from education, supervision to the coordination of family, school and society to hope to respond to the situation of electronic cigarettes and addictive substances attacking schools. At the same time, timely support for students showing signs of substance abuse, helping them to quit and recover their health.
“Every student can become an ambassador against e-cigarettes and addictive substances to have the right awareness and be able to propagate information and the harmful effects of this problem to other students” – Mai Anh said.
There are few musical works for children.
Voter Nguyen Nam Nghi said that there is currently a lack of musical works for children and asked: “Is it because composing music for children makes musicians less famous or because the remuneration for musical works for children is low?”
Nam Nghi explains that because of the lack of attractive children’s music, the phenomenon of children listening to and singing music for adults is becoming more and more popular.
“I really hope that musicians will compose more children’s music. And that departments will organize more music competitions for children” – Nghi suggested.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Vu Ky Lam said that there are also compositions for children, but they seem far away from children, making it difficult for them to absorb and therefore less popular.
“I really hope there will be a program to bring music into schools, especially traditional music, so that students can have more access to traditional musical instruments. Only then will they love and be more proud of traditional music and their national culture” – Ky Lam expressed.