Borrowing the school's dormitory to live in, many teachers refuse to return it

Students crowded in temporary dormitories

For many months now, nearly 800 students at the Nghe An Province Ethnic Boarding High School have been living in cramped temporary dormitories. Previously, these students lived in two rows of houses built 40 years ago.

At the end of 2023, to make room for the construction of a new dormitory, an old dormitory building was demolished. Therefore, nearly 300 male students were temporarily moved to rooms in the functional practice building; more than 400 female students were forced into rooms in the remaining old dormitory building.

Since moving to temporary rooms, many students have complained about disrupted living conditions, cramped conditions, and the impact on their studies.

According to the reporter, to provide temporary accommodation for the students, the school divided the functional practice rooms in half. Many rooms are less than 20m wide.²but there were up to 20 students. In some rooms, the students' belongings were stacked on top of each other, taking up most of the walkway. Two students had to squeeze together to sleep on a single bed less than 90cm wide.

“I just want the new dormitory to be finished so I can move there. It’s inconvenient here,” a male student shared.

The new dormitory building is expected to be put into use in 2024. However, the project has been stalled for many months, even at risk of having its investment capital cut off due to behind schedule. The reason is that some teachers who were lent the dormitory by the school to live in have refused to return the premises, as committed in the previous rental contract.

According to Principal Nguyen Thi Kieu Hoa, the Provincial Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities (formerly Nghe Tinh High School for the Highlands) was established by the Provincial People's Committee in 1984 and has been granted land at its current location since then. Because many teachers live far away and lack accommodation, the school built a dormitory for them right on the school campus. Since then, many generations of teachers have taken turns staying for free in the dormitories. In cases where they have the means to buy a house outside, they will hand it over to the school, so that the school can lend it to others.

In 2005, to build a cafeteria for students, most of the rooms in these two dormitories were demolished, leaving only three rooms. In 2006, after the cafeteria was completed, realizing that there were still many teachers in difficult circumstances, the school leaders held a meeting and allowed three families of teachers to live in three rooms in the remaining dormitory. In addition, two other teachers, Mr. Nguyen Van Ky and Ms. Sam Thi Son, were lent a vacant piece of land right next to the school, so that the two families could build a house next to the three old dormitories. The families paid for the new construction themselves. The lending process had contracts and the teachers' applications were still kept at the school. Each dormitory room lent was only 18m wide.².

Borrowed a house but refused to return it

The contract signed on June 25, 2006 clearly stated that these 5 teachers must commit to "not expanding beyond the designated area; The time of use is until the school has a need, then notify at least 12 months in advance so that families can find accommodation...".

However, during their stay, many households violated their commitments in the contract by renovating and expanding beyond the borrowed area without asking permission from the school. Although the original borrowed area was only 18m wide.², but many households have expanded up to more than 60m².

Of the five teachers who signed a contract to borrow the collective house in 2006, only one, Ms. Cao Thi Le Hang, returned the house in 2012 after building her own house outside. This house was then handed over to Mr. Tran Van Son's family to borrow.

As for the remaining households, some of them retired and returned to their hometowns 15 years ago, some of them built their own houses outside a long time ago but still refused to return the dormitory to the school.

Principal Nguyen Thi Kieu Hoa said that after becoming principal, she realized that the dormitory buildings for students built in 1984 were too degraded, so the school asked for funding to invest in rebuilding them.

In 2019, after obtaining funding for investment, I worked with 5 households, asking them to move within 1 year so that the school could clear the land to build a dormitory for students as committed in the contract. At that time, only 1 household had no opinion. The remaining households asked for 3 years to arrange to move. The school agreed to the 3-year period.

Principal Nguyen Thi Kieu Hoa

However, after 3 years, in October 2023, the project was started but 5 households still refused to hand over the site for construction. The construction unit had to send many documents to the investor complaining about the delay in handing over the site, causing workers to wait for work and the risk of having their investment capital cut off due to slow progress.

After hundreds of meetings and campaigns, by the end of March 2024, 3 households who had borrowed the school's dormitory agreed to move out to hand over the premises. The other 2 households, Ms. Sam Thi Son and Mr. Nguyen Van Ky, who had used their own money to build on the school's land, have yet to return it. According to the reporter's investigation, the school had to support part of the cost to get the 3 households to hand over the premises.

In the past, these households have also sent many complaints to the Provincial People's Committee. After the Provincial People's Committee directed, many inspection teams were established and concluded that the entire land area where these 5 households are living is within the school grounds, requiring the households to urgently relocate.

In the case of Mr. Nguyen Van Ky, in his complaint, he stated that, “during the time he lived here, his family was given an additional piece of land by a household next to the school to expand the campus. The school gave him an area of ​​58.5m2² and the family has reclaimed part of the state-managed wasteland.

Regarding this issue, the Vinh City People's Committee has established an inspection team and concluded that the land plot of the household next to the school that Mr. Ky mentioned has not changed in shape and area since it was measured in 1999, so Mr. Ky's claim that this household gave him a part of the area to expand the campus is unfounded. This area is also not adjacent to the vacant land managed by the ward, so Mr. Ky's claim that he encroached on a part of the vacant land managed by the State is also unfounded. In addition, even though the school gave him an area of ​​more than 58m², but Mr. Ky's family could not provide any documents to prove this.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment as well as the Vinh City People's Committee have issued a document concluding that the entire land area where these 5 teachers' families are living is located within the school grounds, under the management of the provincial Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities, and has been granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights to the school. The households are using the land under a contract for the rental of collective housing between the school and the teachers signed in 2006. The Provincial People's Committee has also issued a document responding to the petition, and at the same time requested the 5 households to urgently relocate their assets on the land to hand over the construction site for the project. However, up to now, there are still 2 households that have not handed over.

Due to the lack of land handover, the project to build a dormitory for students has only completed half of the building, many items are stalled. Meanwhile, according to the schedule, it should be completed in 2024./.