Providing rice for students in mountainous areas

The Government's rice convoy to the highlands since December 21st has been making students and parents living in extremely disadvantaged areas happy, because with the support level of 15kg/month, students no longer have to worry about hunger when going to school, and even have rice to help their families.

Mother and daughter of Mrs. Giang Thi Po in Pai Lung commune (Meo Vac, Ha Giang) receive rice from the Government.

Mrs. Giang Thi Po, 37 years old, Ma Phi Leng hamlet, Pai Lung commune, Meo Vac district, Ha Giang waited for the morning to go to her child's school. When she left, she brought a big bag. She said: "The teacher told me. I have to bring a big bag, and call my family to carry all the government's rice for Dinh."

Din is Mrs. Po's daughter, this year in 7th grade. According to Decision 36/2013/QD-TTg of the Government, from September 2013, all students in extremely disadvantaged areas studying in public schools will receive rice support from the Government, at the rate of 15 kg/student/month, each year for no more than nine months. Accordingly, from December 21 until now, the Government's rice trucks have arrived at the schools. Each student received five months of rice. Mrs. Po happily said: "This time we got 75 kg. By the end of the year, there will be 60 kg left."

Regarding boarding students, teacher Tieu Phuong, who teaches English at Pai Lung Secondary School in Meo Vac District, said: "For a long time, the school has been calling on parents to support the school with rice and firewood to feed the students, but they do not have any to contribute. There is little money, many expenses, from rice, firewood to fish sauce, salt, food... so the students' meals are often very poor." Now that there is rice, the money spent on buying rice to feed the students every day will be deducted and transferred to buying food. "Thanks to that, the meals will be enhanced, with fish, meat, and protein. The students' health will be better, and their physical condition will also be better," teacher Phuong excitedly said.

Not far from Pai Lung Secondary School, some teachers at Can Chu Phin Boarding Secondary School also used rice to encourage some students' families to support their children to go to school. The teachers said: Many families want to keep their children at home to work, grow corn and cassava rather than send them to school. Now, the school has rice to encourage them to send their children to school.

No longer worried about receiving less rice than other parents, Ms. Lo Thi Nu, whose daughter studies at Can Chu Phin Secondary School, smiled and said: "Now I understand. From now on, I will remind my children to go to school more regularly. Before, when there was no rice, the children went to school hungry. But now, they probably won't be hungry anymore. The family has two children going to school and receives 30 kilos of rice each month, plus the rice for famine relief and rice for forest protection for the State, so they won't be afraid of hunger anymore."

Meo Vac District is the first locality in Ha Giang Province to receive rice support for students. Chairman of the District People's Committee Nguyen Chi Thuong confided: "If you are not a local, you will not fully understand the difficulties of the people. For generations, they have had to carry handfuls of soil into the rocks to plant corn, which is the main source of food. They put in a lot of effort but the return is not much, so most of them fall into poverty."

This time, the Government provided more than 4,000 tons of rice to students in especially difficult areas in Ha Giang, with more than 850 tons in Meo Vac alone. The decision took effect from September to December, and rice has reached the highlands. Provincial leaders have directed schools to provide enough rice for five months to students, and requested increased supervision to ensure that students and their families receive the correct amount.

Rice reaching the poor is very necessary at this time. Because in addition to helping students go to school, rice also helps households with children going to school have enough food to overcome hunger during the lean season. Schools and localities need to raise their sense of responsibility and strengthen supervision so that the Government's rice can reach students and families with children going to school completely.

According to NDĐT