Con Cuong: Bumpy road to school after the flood

(Baonghean) -The sudden flood in Con Cuong district isolated three communes: Mau Duc, Don Phuc, and Thach Ngan, forcing more than 8,000 students in the area to stay home from school for many days. Currently, the water level in streams in the district continues to rise, making the path to education for students extremely difficult.

On September 15, when reporters were present in Don Phuc commune, although the water had receded from the low-lying areas, the water level in the streams was still high. The road from Con Cuong town to Don Phuc is only about 15km long, but it took us more than 2 hours to get to the schools in the area in a muddy condition.

Travel is very difficult in communes affected by flash floods.



Khe Khen is still flooded, preventing children from going to school.

Welcoming us at Don Phuc Primary School (Don Phuc Commune) were teachers who stayed on duty at the school, still unable to hide their shock when recounting stories of floods. At 7am on September 11, the water in Phen stream suddenly rose, flooding the main field of Phuc village. The primary school has 5 campuses scattered in the villages of Don Phuc Commune: the main campus in Phuc village, campuses in Hong Thang, Hong Dien, Tong Tien and Tong To villages. The main campus of the small primary school is precariously located on a hill, teetering in the middle of the floodwaters. Ms. Luong Thi Ty - a first grade teacher, said: "As soon as the floodwaters rose, we immediately contacted the commune authorities to inform students to stay home from school. At the same time, we reminded families to be careful not to let their children go out, going to the stream area is very dangerous!"

At the time of our arrival, there were still two schools in Hong Dien and Hong Thang villages that were isolated, and the floodwaters were still very high. In particular, the lives of colleagues here were greatly affected. The teachers told us the story of Ms. Vi Thi Chien - a teacher at Hong Dien school whose house was flooded, and all of her assets, which were already too little, had been saved up over a lifetime as a teacher. Because we could not reach the isolated schools, we had to interview Ms. Chien over the phone. She shared: “Every year there are floods, but this year's floods have made the lives of the people as well as the staff and teachers here the most miserable. As for my family, everything was washed away, and now there is nothing of value left!”

Not only Ms. Chien's family, many students' families in the area are also in dire straits due to floods. Following Ms. Luong Thi Ty, we visited the family of Nguyen Thi Huong Trang in Xieng village - a 4th grade student at Don Phuc Primary School. The flood had temporarily passed, but in her innocent eyes, there was still fear: "At that time, my parents had not returned from collecting bamboo shoots in the forest in time, there were only two sisters and me in the house. The water rose so quickly and so high, the two sisters could only hug each other and cry. Luckily, some people from the neighboring house ran over to help anchor the house pillars and tie the four walls, otherwise my house would have been swept away by the water."

Mr. Phan Minh Duc - Principal of Don Phuc Primary School, said: “We are waiting for the water in the streams to recede so that we can have specific statistics on the damage. At the same time, teachers are also looking forward to bringing students back to class to catch up with the curriculum. Hopefully in the next few days, it will be easier for teachers and students to go to school!”

What remains after the flood in Phuc village

It is known that in addition to Don Phuc Primary School, kindergartens and secondary schools in the area are also closed waiting for the water to recede. This situation also occurs in communes devastated by floods such as Mau Duc and Thach Ngan. Talking to Mr. Phan Anh Tai - Head of the Education Department of Con Cuong district, he said: "There are no specific statistics yet, but the recent flood damaged many schools, books and teaching aids were mostly washed away or soaked. We estimate that as of September 19, about 1,200 students in Thach Ngan, Don Phuc, Cam Lam and Chau Khe communes still cannot go to school." Regarding solutions to overcome the consequences of the flood, Mr. Tai added: "We have proposed many combined solutions such as making up for lessons on weekends, organizing private tutoring classes for children who come to class too late due to isolated flood conditions to keep up with the program... !"

Being a poor mountainous district, the school opening drum has just sounded not long ago, but the path to literacy of the students here has encountered countless difficulties. Hopefully, the joint efforts of all levels, sectors, and the community to overcome the consequences of floods, purchase new teaching aids and textbooks... will contribute to the confidence of the students, so that "every day at school is a happy day".

Nguyen Thanh Duy