School Facilities: Old Concerns Before the New School Year

(Baonghean) - In less than a week, students in the province will start going back to school, entering the new school year. Time is running out, but up to this point, the preparation of facilities in some localities, especially in mountainous areas, is still very messy and chaotic...

The hardships in the highlands

Luong Minh Primary School is located in one of the most disadvantaged areas of the mountainous district of Tuong Duong. In the new school year, the school added four more classes, but the total number of classrooms remained unchanged. The school also considered giving up the office block to make room for students, but did not know where to arrange the principal's building.

Having worked in education in the highlands for many years, teacher and Principal Lo Van Hai shared: “Currently, the school has 34 classes with more than 500 students, but is divided into 9 satellite schools, some of which are dozens of kilometers away from the main school, so investing in and building facilities is difficult.”

Boarding room of students at Luu Kien Secondary School, Tuong Duong district.

Luu Kien Secondary School currently has more than 100 boarding students (accounting for more than 50% of the school's students), but the dormitory facilities are still lacking. The classrooms and kitchen are old, dilapidated wooden houses. Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, the school's principal, said: "Unstable accommodation is very worrying, affecting the psychology of students and parents. Moreover, if this situation is not resolved soon, it will lead to many consequences, especially an increase in the number of students dropping out of school."

In the whole district of Tuong Duong, the investment in building schools has been focused and invested in recently. However, up to now, the district still lacks 114 dormitories, 54 schools lack water sources, and 45 schools have makeshift toilets. Many schools have been built for a long time, so they are now degraded and cannot meet new requirements in teaching and learning. In addition, many projects, although planned for repair and upgrading, have been delayed due to lack of capital, such as Yen Thang Primary School, Pa Khom School, Huoi Poa (Yen Tinh 2 Primary School)...

In recent years, the system of ethnic minority boarding schools and junior high schools in the province has been increasingly developed and up to now, 27/42 planned schools have been put into operation. However, due to being newly established and not having received much investment, operating conditions are still very difficult. In particular, in addition to Tuong Duong Junior High School for Ethnic Minority Boarding, the basic facilities have been completed, initially meeting the teaching and learning needs, the rest are having to study temporarily. For example, Quy Chau Junior High School for Ethnic Minority Boarding is currently using the facilities and campus of Hanh Thiet 2 Primary School; Quy Hop Junior High School for Ethnic Minority Boarding received the handover of the facilities and campus of the 2nd facility of Quy Hop Town Primary School. Que Phong Junior High School for Ethnic Minority Boarding is currently studying in Que Phong High School. Ky Son Junior High School for Ethnic Minority Boarding is using the facilities shared with Ky Son Town Secondary School.

In particular, the ethnic minority boarding secondary school system, although the number of boarding students each year reaches thousands, the number of rooms for boarding students is almost non-existent, only meeting about 15% of the demand. The dining hall and the system of auxiliary works serving boarding students are mainly temporary, greatly affecting the quality of teaching and learning at the school.

General capital difficulties

In recent years, the budget for basic construction has been cut, greatly affecting the construction and completion of school infrastructure systems. In addition, programs such as investment in school consolidation and target programs for education are increasingly narrowed. In some places, the investment policy consultation of related sectors is sometimes general and not specific, affecting investment efficiency as well as the progress of building schools that meet national standards.

Right in Vinh city, this situation also exists and is difficult to solve. For example, although the city has planned to upgrade and build new schools for many years, the construction of Cua Nam Kindergarten and Hung Phuc Primary and Secondary Schools has not yet been implemented. Vinh Tan Primary School, which started construction in 2010, had to be "suspended" for many years due to lack of funding and was only completed and put into use this school year.

At the high school level, Huynh Thuc Khang High School, although one of the key schools, has had to interrupt its upgrading and repair due to limited funding and the school’s counterpart funds not being balanced enough. In Yen Thanh district, there are at least 5 projects that have been planned for construction for many years, but are currently not implemented or are still unfinished.

The kitchen area of ​​Luu Kien Secondary School students

According to the synthesis of the Department of Facilities - Department of Education and Training, currently each year the province allocates nearly 100 billion VND to invest in facilities for schools, but it is not enough to meet actual requirements. Moreover, the capital provided is not enough according to the plan, leading to slow implementation progress. For example, in the first 6 months of 2016, the capital to upgrade ethnic boarding schools according to the target program of education and training only reached 31%; the capital for local basic construction investment has only disbursed about 50%.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Chi - Director of the Department of Education and Training also said: “Due to limited capital, in the immediate future, priority will be given to projects with approved investment projects, projects with approved investment policies, units with too many difficulties in material facilities, building facilities for schools striving to meet national standards; supporting the construction of school sanitation facilities. The Education sector hopes that localities will promote socialization, linking school construction with new rural construction, calling for support from businesses and investment units…”.

My Ha