Boarding school model - the second home of ethnic minority students in Nghe An

New boarding school model

More than 200 billion VND is the total amount invested in the new construction of Ky Son High School and according to the plan, it will be put into use from this school year. In addition, the school will also put into use a dormitory with 122 rooms, ensuring accommodation for about 1,200 students who are children of ethnic minorities in the area.

The large-scale, systematic and synchronous investment is also the basis for the Department of Education and Training to choose Ky Son High School as one of the first two schools to pilot the model of a model boarding high school for ethnic minorities. There, students are fed and accommodated at the school. In addition, the school will be organized with 20 different criteria such as activities on the school's educational plan, criteria on the environment, extracurricular education, facilities, educational effectiveness, etc.

The boarding house for students of Ky Son High School is being completed to be put into use from the 2022-2023 school year. Photo: My Ha

Notably, according to this model, students study 2 sessions/day. In addition to teaching according to the general education program, the school can implement other educational programs such as local programs, programs to promote and preserve national cultural identity and ethnic languages. In addition, the teaching and learning programs of Foreign Languages ​​and Information Technology are enhanced; the teaching program to differentiate subjects, individualize each student's capacity, nurture excellent students, and tutor weak students is implemented.

With more than 1,600 students, of which about 1,200 students are in extremely disadvantaged communes, border areas and enjoy the regime and policies according to Decree 116, the fact that students can stay in boarding schools, eat and live at school will create favorable conditions for students and help Ky Son High School implement teaching and learning well. Through discussion, teacher Le Van Tao - Principal said: In previous school years, most of the school's students had to stay outside the school, which was very difficult and difficult to manage. Therefore, when implementing the boarding school model, we were very excited and are planning to organize it effectively. Currently, although the new school year has not yet begun, many parents have contacted to apply for their children to stay in boarding schools.

The cramped and inadequate rented rooms of students in mountainous areas when studying far from home. Photo: Duc Anh

Que Phong High School was also chosen to pilot a model boarding school. At the same time, the district also agreed to the policy of repairing all facilities and building 64 new classrooms for boarding students. Teacher Tu Thi Van - Principal said: Previously, the model of boarding high schools for ethnic minorities was implemented in mountainous districts and was effective. Currently, if the model continues to be piloted, it will bring many benefits, firstly for parents, students and secondly for teachers. This will also be the basis for the school to stabilize the organization of teaching and learning, limit the situation of students dropping out of school and gradually improve the quality of education.

The Education sector also plans to implement a new model of boarding schools for ethnic minority students. Initially, 2 schools (primary and secondary) will be built in 6 mountainous districts (Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop) in each district. In the 2 districts of Ky Son and Que Phong, a model will be built for high school level.

Need for synchronous investment

For more than a week now, parents of students in villages such as Xoong Con, Luu Thong, Pung village, Luu Kien commune (Tuong Duong) have been gathering to move classrooms from the satellite school to the main school to repair and install them into boarding rooms for students of Luu Kien Primary School.

This school year, Luu Kien Primary School is also one of the schools in the planning to build a boarding primary school model in Tuong Duong district. In order to implement effectively, last school year the school organized a pilot boarding program for 49 5th graders. This year, in preparation for the new General Education Program, the school transferred all 128 3rd graders from all the remote villages to study in a centralized school. Due to many difficulties, despite the cooperation of parents, up to now, the boarding rooms for students are still temporary houses built on land rented by the school from households. In addition, due to the lack of boarding rooms, some of the students' rooms are also being borrowed.

Parents of Liu Qian Primary School (Xiangyang) build a boarding house for students to prepare for the new school year. Photo: CSCC

Teacher Nguyen Dinh Hung - Principal shared: From this school year, all 3rd grade students must study English and IT according to the new General Education Program, so transferring students to study at a centralized school is suitable for the actual conditions in mountainous districts. However, in the current conditions, the implementation still faces many difficulties because the facilities are not guaranteed, not only lack of accommodation for students but we also lack classrooms and computers. There are no IT teachers yet, so we have to supplement them with a cultural teacher who has been trained in IT.

140 boarding students of Luong Minh Primary School (Tuong Duong) are also living in temporary buildings (which are semi-permanent classrooms) with 10-12 students per room. The school has only organized boarding for all third graders and some particularly difficult cases. Meanwhile, if the number of boarding students doubles or triples from the next school year, it will be difficult to ensure the current conditions.

Teacher Nguyen Van Thanh - Principal said: Most schools in remote mountainous areas have long had many separate schools, our school also has 7 separate schools. Therefore, the investment in facilities has not been implemented centrally but divided into many different locations, so it is difficult to ensure if the number of boarding students is large. We hope that, for the boarding model to be effective, in the long term, there must be synchronous investment, ensuring enough classrooms, boarding rooms and other conditions... Similar difficulties are also occurring at many boarding primary schools in Ky Son, Con Cuong, Que Phong districts, especially in terms of facilities for boarding houses, teaching equipment and lack of teachers.

Due to lack of facilities, many primary schools in Ky Son district have to organize boarding right in the classroom. Photo: My Ha

In Nghe An province, there are currently 8 ethnic boarding schools and 57 semi-boarding schools (at both primary and secondary levels). These are all schools that have enjoyed the regime of semi-boarding and boarding schools according to regulations. However, there are currently at least 55 general schools with semi-boarding students with 1,734 classes and more than 45,969 students, organized according to the semi-boarding model, but in reality the schools are operating on a voluntary basis. Teachers do not have a regime and the schools have not been supported with money for organizing semi-boarding and other living expenses. This is also a difficulty for schools in the implementation process.

Talking about this, the Principal of Ky Son High School also shared: From this school year, we will organize boarding for 1,200 students and the State's support is only 15 kg of rice per student and 596,000 VND for food/month (according to Decision 116). This amount of money, to save and take care of the students with 3 meals a day is already difficult, not enough to cover expenses such as electricity, boarding service fees, and teachers' on-duty fees. I think that, in order for the model to be maintained in the long term, there must soon be a specific regime and policy like boarding schools, or there must be a socialization mechanism to make it easier to operate.

Meals of boarding students at Doc May Primary School (Ky Son) 2. Photo: Duc Anh

After nearly 20 years of implementation, the model of semi-boarding and boarding schools has also achieved results and this is even more necessary at the present time, when the Education sector implements the new General Education Program. To complete the set goals, in the coming time, the Education sector, localities and relevant departments and sectors need to prioritize capital sources from the National Target Program to synchronously invest in facilities and teaching equipment; arrange enough teachers and implement good policies for teachers and learners.