The “Children in the wartime” exhibition by the Vietnamese Women’s Museum was warmly welcomed by the teachers and pupils in the school’s traditional room on the morning of Nov. 26th.

The exhibition not only reminded the teachers of their childhood war memories but also raised the pupil’s curiosity about the lively photographs of how pupils lived, worked, and went to school under war conditions 40 years ago.

School children dutifully stood in line, listening quietly to the presentation about how a new school year would be started next to a dugout, or about studying in temporary schools or having to carry first-aid kits together with their books and notebooks … Many curious questions were asked by the 1st and 2nd-grade pupils: “Didn’t they have a superman school-bag?”; “Why did they walk barefoot?”… After hearing how schools operated under evacuation circumstances, a 4th or 5th-grade pupil whispered: “ If I would be in this situation, I would cry”. This was a rare opportunity for these pupils to feel such real emotions about this subject.

Mrs. Ngoc, the head of Nguyen Du Primary School, was very pleased that the schoolchildren were interested in acquiring new knowledge: “Actually, schoolchildren are lacking the right skills and feelings, they only learn without having the experiences. Therefore, exhibitions like this are essential in giving the children a better understanding and deeper feelings about this subject”.

Some pictures at the exhibition: