Nghe An highland schools stabilize student numbers before new school year

Go to every alley, knock on every door to encourage students to go to school

The confessions and images of two teachers Kha Thi Ky and Vu I Ky climbing the cliffs to each student's house to do the work of popularizing and mobilizing students to go to school were recorded by teacher Le Thi Nhan - Vice Principal of Tam Hop Kindergarten, and received the sharing of many colleagues. These are two teachers stationed at the remote schools of Huoi Son and Pha Lom, which are schools with 100% Mong students. At this time, when the new school year is approaching, many students in the village are following their parents to work in the South and have not returned. Along with that, many children of school age have not yet gone to school.

To stabilize the number of students as soon as possible, for many weeks, teachers of Tam Hop Kindergarten have had to go to each house, meet with each family to find out the cause and try to contact the parents. However, up to this point, the whole school only has 177/214 students attending school.

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We have understood the situation of each student and asked their family members to contact their parents to send them back to school. In case the children stay with their parents, I also encourage parents to send their children to schools near where the parents work, and at the end of the school year send a certificate of completion of the preschool program (for 5-year-olds) so that the school can grasp the situation of the students.

Teacher Le Thi Nhan - Vice Principal of Tam Hop Kindergarten, Tuong Duong district

It is known that, although it is a preschool level, Tam Hop Kindergarten has not yet organized a boarding kitchen for students at the satellite schools, including Huoi Son and Pha Lom schools.

However, according to the school's plan from the 2024-2025 school year, instead of students in the village having to bring meals to school, the school will organize a boarding model with local people. Every day, classes will assign parents to go to the satellite school to cook meals for students with the teachers. This is also a solution for parents to feel secure when sending their children to school.

Boarding students return to school early

In the first week of August, more than 30 staff and teachers of Chieu Luu Ethnic Boarding Secondary School (Ky Son) returned to school. Although more than 70% of the teachers came from lowland districts far from home to teach, after the gathering day, all the teachers stayed at school. Over the past 2 weeks, the teachers have taken the opportunity to clean up the school, repair some damaged items, and receive professional training to prepare for the new school year.

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During the summer, the school repainted all classrooms and renovated some grade 4 classrooms to ensure enough classrooms for students. The difficulty is that with 2 additional classes, the school currently does not have desks and chairs, so teachers have to find old desks and chairs to renovate. The teaching equipment has been purchased and used for nearly 20 years, so it is almost unusable with the new program. Although it is very difficult, up to this point, all preparations to welcome students back to school have been basically completed.

Teacher Nguyen Van Tam - Principal of Chieu Luu Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities

Chieu Luu Ethnic Boarding Secondary School is one of the schools located in a difficult area of ​​Ky Son district. In order to stabilize students' learning soon, although students just started school on August 26, from the afternoon of August 25, all boarding students of the school were gathered and settled in their accommodation. After arriving at school, they will officially enter the new school year, starting the first week of boarding.

The school principal added: Since implementing the boarding school model, the number of students in remote villages who have dropped out or stopped going to school is very low because of the support from the State. Many students in favorable areas often follow their siblings to work at companies during the summer vacation and do not return to school, but now they have asked to go back to school. For example, at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, out of the 8 students who dropped out of school last year, 3 have returned and asked to continue going to school.

Early stabilization of student numbers

At Tam Hop Primary School (Tuong Duong), from August 22, first graders of the school started their first week of school with freshmen. Meanwhile, the school has also gathered students for the remaining grades so that they can quickly settle into their classes. After 1 week of school, about 90% of the 323 students have returned to school. The remaining students, some of whom have followed their parents to work far away, have not returned yet, and some are waiting for the new official school week to begin.

Through discussion, teacher Nguyen Dinh Man - Principal of Tam Hop Primary School, said: Being in a mountainous area, every year our school starts school early and organizes review sessions for the students so that they can get used to going to school and quickly stabilize the number of students.

For those who have not yet returned to school, we will assign the homeroom teacher to directly contact the parents to grasp the situation and find out the cause. In addition, the school will also report to the authorities and organizations to coordinate information for families, encouraging children to return to school soon to welcome the new school year.

The issue of stabilizing student numbers is always a concern for schools in mountainous districts. Therefore, although schools have just started to return to school at this time, many schools in mountainous districts have already organized classes for students.

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Although the school year has not officially started, kindergartens in Tuong Duong district have sent children to class to get to know their teachers and friends. For the remaining levels of education such as primary and secondary schools, students have also gone to school and many boarding schools have organized for the children to eat and stay at school. Although there are still many difficulties, we hope that, with the dedication and responsibility of teachers, the organization of teaching and learning at schools will soon stabilize, ensuring the mobilization of enough students to go to school according to the set plan.

Ms. Vo Tuyet Chinh - Deputy Head of Education and Training Department of Tuong Duong district