Schools in the northern province ofBac Ninh will be allowing youngsters to use their playgrounds thissummer to keep them away from busy roads.

Nguyen Van Chau, 12, is one of those who will be visiting his localschool this summer.

"Up to now we have been forced to play in the street because we didn'thave anywhere else to go during the holidays," Chau said.

Truong Quang Hai, deputy secretary of Bac Ninh Youth Union, said youthorganisations have asked primary and secondary schools in the provinceto allow children to use their playgrounds because of the chronicshortage of playgrounds in the province.

Hai added that provincial youth organisations have also asked relevantagencies to organise activities such as martial arts, foreign languagesand computer training and chess clubs for children over the summer.

"We hope our children will have a healthy and safe summer holiday," Haisaid, adding that the initiative had been warmly received by parents.

Chau's mother, Thu Hang, said the scheme will make her life as a parenta lot less stressful over the holiday.

She said last year, Chau had nearly burnt her house down because he hadbeen forced to stay at home.

"After that accident, I had to bring my two children to the office foralmost three months during the summer holiday," Hang said.

Meanwhile, the central city of Da Nang has organised life classes,which contents include how to have a good behaviour, arrange time,introduce one's self, meet new friends and speak easily in front of acrowd as well as learning in a group, and openly discuss matters, forthird to ninth graders, said Mai Xuan Mui, deputy director of Da Nang'sCulture House for Teenagers.

About 500 pupils have already registered for the class, he said.

"While city children study endlessly, cram in many hours of extratuition and are excused from doing chores around the house, theircountry cousins usually come home and do household chores or work in thefields before setting down to study.

"As a result, urban students are often far less attuned to the businessof living, relating to others and solving simple problems that arise indaily life," Mui said.

"I hope the class will not only be useful but will also discouragechildren from wasting their time playing computer games or taking drugsthis summer," Mui said.

Meanwhile, the youth union in the southern cape province of Ca Mau,in conjunction with provincial departments of Education and Trainingand Culture, Sports and Tourism, plans to hold swimming classes.

Nguyen Minh Luan, secretary of the provincial youth union, said eachward and town would mobilise 20 youth volunteers to teach teenagers toswim.

"In rural areas, volunteers will hold swimming lessons for primaryschool children in safe canals and ponds during the summer holiday,which will hopeful mean they are safer during the wet season," Luansaid.

A UNICEF representative in charge of the Child Injury PreventionProgramme in Vietnam , said children often played in ponds andstreams even though they did not know how to swim.

Drowning is one of the leading causes of child mortality in Vietnam ,said the deputy minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs(MoLISA), Phung Ngoc Hung.

The ministry has started implementing a programme to teach primary andsecondary school children to swim, said Nguyen Trong An, deputy directorof the ministry's Child Care and Protection Department.

About 5,000 children are now learning how to swim in the Cuu Long(Mekong) province of Dong Thap , according to the Population,Families and Children Committee./.