Final article: Conditions for building a standard school

(Baonghean) -According to the Project "Planning the network of primary and secondary schools in Yen Thanh district from 2009 to 2015", by 2015, the whole district will have only 26 secondary schools (currently there are 35 schools). In the past 3 years, the district has just dissolved Kim Thanh Secondary School (students are arranged to study at Quang Thanh Secondary School and Dong Thanh Secondary School), merged Tang Thanh Secondary School into Yen Thanh Town Secondary School...

Some opinions of former teachers and elderly people of Hoa Thanh commune said that Hoa Thanh Secondary School should not be merged with Yen Thanh Town Secondary School, or if merged, it should be located at Hoa Thanh Secondary School. The reason given by former teachers is that Hoa Thanh Secondary School is the first secondary school of Yen Thanh district, the place that laid the foundation for Yen Thanh Education and Training sector, the cradle of knowledge for Yen Thanh. Secondly, Hoa Thanh Secondary School is located on the land of the old Bao Lam communal house, so it needs to be protected, renovated, upgraded and cannot be erased. And, when the school is merged, Hoa Thanh's children will have to go to school far away...

First of all, it must be affirmed that the merger of Hoa Thanh Secondary School with Yen Thanh Town Secondary School has no other purpose than to create favorable conditions to improve the quality of education for Hoa Thanh's children, which is completely in line with the province's policy and in line with local reality.

Currently, Yen Thanh District People's Committee is investing in the construction of Phan Dang Luu Secondary School (the school name after merging Yen Thanh Town Secondary School and Hoa Thanh Secondary School) on an area of ​​nearly 10,000m2, including many spacious items, with a total estimated investment cost of about 23 billion VND. After completion and put into use, the school will have synchronous, modern, and standard facilities, best meeting the learning needs of students. A reasonable school size will create a vibrant learning atmosphere for students, teachers will be arranged in the right profession, and professional groups will no longer have to group teachers to teach many subjects together....

Computer classroom at Hoa Thanh Secondary School

The school is located in the North of Yen Thanh Town, the distance from the farthest hamlet of Hoa Thanh to the new location is about 3 km, from Van Thanh to the new school is about 2-3 km, the farthest hamlet of Tang Thanh commune to the school is about 6 km. Therefore, the location of the new school is suitable, convenient for students of the communes after the merger to study at the school. If the school is located at the current Hoa Thanh Secondary School, students from other communes will have to go further and have to go through different communes, so it is not convenient for students to travel. Moreover, currently, Hoa Thanh commune has 62 students studying at Bach Lieu Secondary School and Yen Thanh Town Secondary School, every day they still cycle to and from school, so it cannot be said that the traffic distance is an obstacle to the school merger.

Mr. Tran Van Thanh, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Yen Thanh district, said: "When building the school merger project, the district and the industry carefully researched and considered the most optimal option. The location of Phan Dang Luu Secondary School (currently under construction) is suitable and convenient for students from the communes after the merger to study. The most important issue is the district's policy to build Phan Dang Luu Secondary School into a key school of the district, so the school has been and will be invested in facilities, human resources and will mobilize the combined strength of localities with children studying there to build a school that meets national standards...".

In reality, merging Hoa Thanh Secondary School and Yen Thanh Town Secondary School into a school with a more reasonable scale for more effective investment is inevitable. The history and tradition of a school with a long tradition cannot be denied, but that cannot be considered a reason to "refuse" the merger. The most important issue that needs to be concerned about is the quality of education and the rights of students in the whole region. Nostalgia and respect for the past are extremely valuable. I believe that in the future, teachers at Phan Dang Luu Secondary School will not forget to teach their students to understand and promote the good traditions of the predecessor schools of Phan Dang Luu Secondary School, so that it will become more and more beautiful.

According to regulations, the standard for a junior high school teacher is 19 periods/week, but when the number of classes decreases, the number of teaching periods of teachers also decreases, making it impossible to arrange a uniform teaching staff, forcing some teachers to teach cross-subjects, and not being able to organize professional groups in the true sense, directly affecting the quality of teaching. On the other hand, if the school is small and fragmented, with a limited budget, it is very difficult to invest in standard facilities. Therefore, planning and reorganizing the school network in the direction of merging small-scale schools together is inevitable.

As early as 2006, Resolution No. 04-NQ/TU dated July 11, 2006 of the Provincial Party Committee clearly stated: "Plan a reasonable school network in the direction that each commune has only one kindergarten and one primary school, maintain a number of junior high schools with primary classes in particularly difficult communes in mountainous areas; merge small-scale junior high schools into commune cluster schools".

To speed up the implementation of Resolution No. 04-NQ/TU, in 2008, the Department of Education and Training directed through Official Dispatch No. 2091/SGD&DT-KHTV: "Proceed to arrange the network of schools in the area, ensuring that each commune has only one kindergarten, one primary school, and one secondary school. The scale of each school is not less than 12 classes and not more than 30 classes. For secondary school level, if the number of students is too small, the number of classes is less than 10, then merge into an inter-commune school".

After 5 years of implementing Resolution No. 04-NQ/TU, up to now, the number of primary schools in the whole province has decreased to 538 schools (down 47 schools compared to 2006), and the number of secondary schools has decreased to 413 schools (down 57 schools compared to 2006). Hung Nguyen is a typical example in the work of planning and rearranging the school network. Up to now, after the merger, Hung Nguyen currently has 22 primary schools (down 3 schools compared to 2006), 11 secondary schools (down 6 schools compared to 2006). In Thanh Chuong, although the terrain is mountainous and the distance between communes is quite far, in order to ensure the quality of teaching and learning, in recent years, the district has merged small-scale schools, currently reducing to 42 primary schools (down 6 schools) and 39 secondary schools (down 1 school compared to 2006). On that basis, districts have the conditions to invest in schools to build and upgrade facilities in the direction of standardization, teachers are arranged with the right expertise, from which, the quality of teaching and learning of schools after the merger has changed significantly compared to before.

Reality from localities shows that merging small-scale schools is inevitable to improve the quality of education. The key is in the way localities do it. We should not rigidly use administrative measures, but must propagate to make people understand the benefits of rearranging the school network, creating high consensus among the people when merging schools. On the other hand, on the basis of the established roadmap, focus on carefully preparing the conditions, especially the conditions of facilities, teaching staff, organizational structure...

Duy Nam - Thao Nhi