In a place where "school is home, and teachers are like parents."

Pick upstudents return to school

Just one week after the opening ceremony of the 2025-2026 school year, 58 students from the three villages of Canh Toong, Cap Chang, and Hat in Yen Na commune were welcomed by teachers from Yen Tinh Ethnic Boarding Secondary School to stay in the school's dormitory. Nearby, dozens of other students from Yen Tinh Ethnic Boarding Primary School were also welcomed to the main school campus.

This was also the first time the students experienced living and eating at the school with the standard student regime.boarding schoolEven though the children do not receive state subsidies, the planned support until the end of December is not much, only a little over 50 million VND, but the entire cost is covered by the Yen Na commune government. The money was raised through contributions from organizations, businesses, and philanthropists with a simple goal: "Each meal helps children take another step towards maturity."

Lam Thi Diem, a student in class 9B, lives in Canh Toong village. Her family is struggling financially; her father is a farmer, and her mother is disabled and unable to work. In previous years, despite living nearly 5 km from the school, Diem still commuted daily. On days with extra classes or school events, she had to bring her own lunch. Knowing her family's circumstances, this year the school included Diem in the support program so she could have lunch and stay at school. The student said: "I'm very happy because I can stay at school every lunchtime and eat with my classmates. My parents are also very happy to see me receiving support and free meals because they don't have to worry every time it rains or storms anymore."

From the first few students, the number of students benefiting from boarding school programs has increased daily. After more than two months of implementation, Ms. Vy Thi Bich Thuy, Secretary of the Party Committee of Yen Na commune, still remembers the opening of the new school year and the commune's decision to issue a letter appealing for "Support in organizing boarding school programs for students in Yen Na commune."

In reality, at that time, the situation in the commune was very difficult, as the Yen Na commune government had only recently been restructured and was not yet stable, with a multitude of tasks to attend to. Meanwhile, the educational tasks for the 2025-2026 school year were very challenging as the Education Department decided to implement a two-session-per-day teaching schedule, but many students in the commune lived far from the center, making commuting difficult. To reduce travel between the two sessions, contribute to ensuring safety and health, stabilize learning habits, and reduce absenteeism and dropout rates, the only solution was to implement a boarding school model.

Although a solution had been found, implementation proved difficult. This was because, despite Yen Na being a mountainous commune with challenging socio-economic conditions, only 677 out of 1,326 students at both primary and secondary levels in the entire commune were eligible for the boarding school program. The remaining students, despite having over 60% of their households classified as poor or near-poor, did not meet the eligibility criteria for support. Many families struggled to contribute financially to their children's school lunches, which typically cost an average of 18,000 VND per meal.

Recounting this, the Party Secretary of Yen Na commune added: "When posting the appeal, I wrote on my personal page, 'Even 1,000 dong is precious! Let's start with the smallest amount.' However, I also thought that maintaining this model for a long time would be very difficult. Therefore, we set goals step by step: step 1 is 100% of students having lunch at school, step 2 is improving the meals to be better than the current level... only then will we consider steps 3 and 4. Fortunately, as soon as the policy was introduced, the entire political system got involved, and the people agreed."

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Thanks to the contributions and collective efforts of everyone, some contributing more, some less, we reached our goal in just over a week since launching the campaign. To date, we have raised over 120 million VND, enough to cover the costs of organizing and purchasing facilities for the lunch program for nearly 100 students at Yen Tinh Ethnic Boarding Primary School and Yen Tinh Ethnic Boarding Secondary School until the end of December 2025. This includes providing lunch allowances of 15,000 VND per student for students from particularly disadvantaged backgrounds, 8,000 VND per student for students from poor households, and 5,000 VND per student for students from near-poor households.

Ms. Vy Thi Bich Thuy - Secretary of the Party Committee of Yen Na Commune

Where "school is home, teachers are parents"”

Before the merger, Yen Tinh was known as a school located in the heart of the flood-prone area of ​​the former Tuong Duong district. A single heavy rain could cause the entire school to be submerged in water from upstream. Before 2022, the emergency evacuation of students was commonplace. Even during the 2019-2020 school year, despite the school having dormitories and a boarding program, many families were forced to rent accommodation outside the school due to the fear of "floods arriving at night."

After each flood, teachers and students stand watching as books, personal belongings, and household items are submerged and damaged, and teaching and learning are interrupted.

Despite the hardships, Yen Tinh commune has had a very unique characteristic for many years: its teaching staff is almost entirely male. In the last five years, the school has received additional staff, but only two female teachers have joined. Ms. Ngan Thi Thuy, the first female teacher, still remembers the time she started working in 2020 with inadequate facilities and frequent disruptions to the boarding school's life due to floods. Here, teachers have to shoulder the responsibilities of mothers and sisters. Therefore, to fulfill their roles, each teacher has to work twice or three times as hard as in other schools. This role makes the teacher-student relationship here special and strengthens it day by day...

It was from these hardships that the desire for change became even stronger. 2022 marked a major turning point when the school was urgently relocated to a new site and received over 30 billion VND in investment for reconstruction. Thanks to this, the school truly underwent a transformation, boasting spacious, modern classrooms and a clean, well-maintained dormitory. Visiting Yen Tinh School also impresses with its lush, green campus, verdant lawns, and many beautiful miniature landscapes meticulously cared for by the teachers.

With the threat of floods no longer weighing heavily on the school, teaching and learning have significantly improved, and the quality of education has made remarkable progress. In the last three years alone, the school has consistently met and exceeded targets in both the quality and quantity of awards won in provincial and district-level student competitions, ranking among the top 5 in the former Tuong Duong district. Every year, many students from the school are admitted to provincial boarding schools. From being a school at the bottom of the district rankings, for the past three consecutive years, the school has been awarded the title of "Outstanding Labor Collective" by the Provincial People's Committee and has received commendations from the Ministry of Education and Training and the Provincial People's Committee. Remarkably, despite still being located in a disadvantaged area, for many years the teachers and students have maintained a "Friendship Gift Box," providing dozens of gifts each year to students from disadvantaged backgrounds both inside and outside the school.

With the results achieved, Yen Tinh Ethnic Boarding Junior High School has become a shining example of a boarding school model throughout the province.

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In our boarding school environment, we believe that teachers should not only teach academics but also cultivate character. Furthermore, teachers should not simply be instructors but also family members to their students, so that they feel like they are returning home whenever they come to school… Our achievements are thanks not only to the teachers but also to the attention of the local government, the support of parents, and the village elders and leaders.

Teacher Nguyen Van Tho - School Principal

Leaving this school, I understand even more the meaning of the words of the Party Secretary of Yen Na commune: Although there are still many difficulties, we always believe that education must be our top priority, and under any circumstances, we always strive and "give the best to our students"!