- UNESCO provided crisis-sensitive education and mental health resources to Viet Nam, supporting schools in addressing climate change-related emergencies.
- The materials, translated into Vietnamese in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training, focus on mental health, psychosocial support, and resilient teacher and education policies.
- The initiative aims to strengthen disaster preparedness and wellbeing in schools, ensuring inclusive, safe, and continuous learning amid rising climate risks.
UNESCO has made available mental health and psychosocial support materials on crisis-sensitive education to Vietnam, which is a great move in ensuring the education system in Vietnam is well-equipped against the increasing threat posed by climate change-induced disasters. As Vietnam is increasingly faced with floods, storms, heatwaves, and other climate change-induced crises, there is an ever-increasing demand on education institutions not only to ensure continuity in education but also to address mental health.
In recognition of this urgent need, UNESCO Vietnam has partnered with the Government through the Ministry of Education and Training to translate and share key UNESCO resources from around the world. These key UNESCO resources include Mental Health and Psychosocial Support guidelines as well as guidelines for making teacher policy and educational programming crisis-resilient. According to UNESCO, by providing these resources in Vietnamese, policymakers and education officials can easily adopt these globally proven strategies to fit their needs.
The resource materials will help schools and the education sector cope better with emergencies while keeping the emphasis on development. The documents include strategies for ensuring a safe environment for learning even during emergencies. especial attention has been given to gender sensitivity and inclusivity in dealing with emergencies to ensure that the needs of girls and other disadvantaged groups are met.
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Aside from the benefit towards the students, the documents acknowledge the significant role of teachers and members of the school staff who are at the front line whenever there is a response to emergencies. The document on the sensitive teacher policies will enable educational systems to plan for the engagement and welfare of teachers who will still perform teaching despite the challenging circumstances without the possible adverse effects on the teachers' mental wellbeing. The MHPSS documents include the role of psychosocial supports within teaching appropriate for processing stressful and traumatic circumstances within the learners.
A major area of concentration for these resources is enhancing data collection, coordination, or planning capacity. By increasing the efficiency of data collection and sharing between various sectors, it becomes possible for educational institutions to predict threats before they occur, address an emergency situation, or coordinate responses from various actors in the humanitarian field. Such an activity aligns UNESCO's role in connecting disaster response and development for building more sustainable education structures.
Collectively, these translation materials are helping schools protect wellbeing and build resilience before, during, and after a disaster has occurred. They are also in line with broader Vietnam efforts to mainstream disaster preparedness and response into the country's overall education policies and plans at a national level. By mainstreaming disaster-sensitive and psychosocial approaches at the education sector, Viet Nam can ensure that learning is not disrupted and that schools are safe for learning, especially in the context of rising climate-related risks.
