To bring the quality of education in mountainous areas closer to that in the lowlands

Investing resources in education

Late October afternoon, school gateQue Phong Secondary School for Ethnic MinoritiesMany parents came to visit and pick up their children. Although their faces were still full of hardship, when asked about their children, many parents expressed their pride. Ms. Vy Thi Huong, living in Na Lanh village (Tri Le commune) has 2 children and only her second son, Lau A Bao, was admitted to class 6A1 of the district boarding school this year.

Since her child went to school far from home, her family only picked her up once a month at the end of the month. Although she was away from her child at such a young age, she was always assured because at school she had teachers who cared for her and taught her very devotedly. "This year, my village only had one student admitted to the district's boarding school, so my family was very happy. My child's education here is funded by the State, and he studies in an educational environment with many good students, so my family is very assured," Ms. Huong added.

Que Phong Ethnic Minority Secondary School is a school with the top quality of education in the district and province. Last school year, the school had 157 students winning district-level prizes, 19 students winning provincial-level prizes (ranked at the top of schools with the most excellent students in the province, ranked first among boarding schools in the province), the percentage of students with good grades reached over 90%, the percentage of students passing the entrance exam to ethnic minority high schools in the province accounted for over 40%.

Previously, although the school had only been in operation for more than 10 years, the establishment of the district's boarding school had proven to be the right place to nurture and nurture the dreams of students who are children of ethnic minorities. As the only secondary school for ethnic minorities in the district, over the years the school has always received attention from the government, departments, branches, localities and social forces. In this school year alone, the school has received more than 24 billion VND from the district's National Target Program to build more dormitories, functional classrooms and public housing for teachers.

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"Our school has more than 400 students, mainly Thai, Mong and Kho Mu. In the past, when there were no boarding schools, most of the students studied in remote communes and not many students had the opportunity to participate in district and provincial competitions for excellent students. However, in a boarding environment, students have the opportunity to develop their abilities, express themselves and many have achieved high academic results."

Teacher Nguyen Van Hai - Principal of Que Phong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities

In 2021, Que Phong district issued a Project on Education and Training Development associated with vocational training linkage, contributing to improving the quality of human resources in the period of 2021-2025. In particular, the main goal is to improve the quality of comprehensive education along with promoting key education, respecting traditions and awareness of law compliance to foster students' comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness and aesthetics, meeting the trend of integration and development.

Through the implementation process, despite many difficulties, the district has implemented many solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of education. Regarding investment in school facilities and equipment alone, in the period of 2021-2024, the District People's Committee has advised superiors and directed departments and offices to integrate programs and projects to invest in building facilities and purchasing teaching equipment for the education sector with a total budget of over 100 billion VND.

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"2024 is the year to prepare for the congress's finish line, so we are prioritizing and focusing on educational projects and expect many projects to be completed 3-5 months ahead of schedule, such as Que Phong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, Thong Thu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, and Tri Le Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities.

The district's viewpoint in implementation is to prioritize boarding and semi-boarding schools, schools in remote, disadvantaged areas, and focus on synchronous investment, avoiding patchwork and fragmentation.

Mr. Lo Van Chien - Head of Construction Investment Project Management Board of Que Phong district

At Chau Phong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Quy Chau district), a series of school projects are currently under construction and promise to change the face of one of the most disadvantaged schools in the district.

Implementing the National Target Program, this is also the school with the most synchronous investment with multi-functional buildings, dormitories, classrooms, dining rooms... with a total value of more than 20 billion VND.

Teacher Vy Huu Tu - Principal of the school said: "More than 60 students in our school are from poor and near-poor households, so their living conditions are very difficult. But thanks to the boarding school model, parents are assured when their children go to school far from home, and enjoy full benefits from the State.

This is also the basis for the school to maintain stable enrollment, avoid student dropouts and improve the quality of education. Last school year, our school had nearly 80% of students passing the entrance exam to public grade 10, 2 students passed the entrance exam to the provincial boarding school, the quality of students ranked 6th in the district."

Focus on improving quality

Nghe An is a province with a relatively high proportion of ethnic minority students, with 11/21 districts being mountainous districts. Due to their own characteristics and difficulties, compared to other regions, the quality of education in mountainous districts is still low compared to the general level and uneven between regions. In addition, school facilities and equipment in particularly disadvantaged and ethnic minority areas are still lacking, and many places do not meet teaching requirements, especially ensuring conditions for teaching according to the 2018 General Education Program.

In order to improve the quality of education in mountainous areas, in recent times, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have issued many important resolutions, directives and projects to develop and improve the quality of education and training for mountainous areas such as Resolution No. 03-NQ/TU, dated November 19, 2021 of the Provincial Party Executive Committee on improving the quality of comprehensive education in Nghe An province for the period 2020 - 2025 and orientation to 2030.

Nghe An also has a project to develop education in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2022 - 2025, with a vision to 2030.

In accordance with this project, many localities have also developed projects with many specific solutions to improve the quality of education in the area. Mr. Le Thanh An - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Con Cuong district said: "In the past 2 years, the work of planning the school network has been carried out vigorously with the merger of 5 schools (the highest in the province). Besides, we try to maintain the teaching staff, there is no longer a surplus of teachers at all levels, and pay attention to policies for teachers. The district also has many solutions to improve the quality of teaching in both mass quality and key quality".

Meanwhile, in Quy Chau district, the implementation of the project to improve the quality of education is associated with the construction of facilities, national standard schools, and schools meeting educational quality standards. By the end of May 2024, the whole district had 34/36 schools meeting national standards level 1, a rate of 94.4%.

To develop education in mountainous areas, Nghe An has also continued to advise and implement specific policies for many groups of students, teachers, and educational administrators.

The province also continues to direct the education sector and related departments and branches to continue to focus on investing resources for the cause of developing education for ethnic minorities and mountainous areas; review and plan the network of schools, classes, and educational facilities suitable to the conditions of each region, paying attention to the construction of boarding and semi-boarding schools at primary and secondary levels; develop and improve the quality of the teaching staff and management staff to ensure sufficient quantity, professional standards, reasonable structure, increase teachers who are ethnic minorities, with qualifications in both pedagogy and knowledge for each region and each ethnic group; build a remuneration regime and use the teaching staff and education management staff suitable to practical requirements so that they can feel secure in their profession and be attached to the locality...

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The Education sector always pays attention to and prioritizes investment in mountainous education and continues to review and advise on policies to ensure the rights of teachers, students and schools.

The industry's goal is to focus resources, create breakthroughs, aim to improve quality, and shorten the gap between regions.

Thereby, contributing to improving the quality of human resources in the future, contributing to promoting socio-economic development, political stability, national defense, security...

Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training