Join hands to light up dreams

(Baonghean) - Taking care of education and training is identified by Tuong Duong district as one of the solutions to escape poverty sustainably. From that awareness, the district has mobilized many resources and built spacious facilities so that children can go to school with peace of mind.

At the beginning of the new school year 2013 - 2014, we went to Tuong Duong Ethnic Minority Boarding Secondary School (DTNT). This is one of the most spacious boarding schools in the mountainous districts, newly built and put into use at the end of the school year 2012 - 2013. On a 4-hectare campus, the school has 12 classrooms, 36 dormitories, a principal's office, functional classrooms and a communal dining room for 500 people. The total investment cost of all items is over 40 billion VND.

To have a spacious school with such a large budget, Tuong Duong district has combined the State's investment capital under the 30a Program to support poor districts and mobilized businesses to contribute. Vietnam National Shipping Lines alone sponsored 17 billion VND. This new school year, the school has 333 students from all 18 communes of the district studying. Students from remote areas of communes, a whole day's journey from the school such as Mai Son, Nhon Mai, Luan Mai, Huu Duong... felt really warm when receiving the classroom, the dormitory still smelling of new paint. Coming to school, students have a stable place to live, feel secure in studying with 3 meals a day cooked in the communal dining room.

Dormitory room for students of Tuong Duong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities.

From Pieng Muu village, Mai Son commune, Xong Y Dinh, class 8C, came to school 2 weeks before the opening ceremony. For him, going to school is a joy when he can gain more knowledge from teachers and reunite with friends in the dormitory. “Because the school is far from home, I, like many other friends, only go home once a semester. Although there are times when I miss my family, I am more confident with collective life, with all the favorable conditions for studying and living…” - Xong Y Dinh shared.

Tuong Duong District is one of the 65 poor districts in the country, with a difficult budget. Each year, the source mobilized from the contributions of officials and people for education only reaches about 500 million VND, less than 1/6 of the investment to build a school. In that situation, along with the budget from Program 30a, 135, the School Reinforcement Program and projects to build educational facilities, the district has increased its call for businesses to support school construction.

In the past 3 years, the district has mobilized over 200 billion VND, built hundreds of solid classrooms, of which, entering the 2013 - 2014 school year, there were 189 new classrooms and 114 new teachers' offices put into use. Units that have enthusiastically supported the education cause of Tuong Duong include: Vietnam National Shipping Lines 17 billion VND; Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade - (Vietcombank) 4.7 billion VND; Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation - Vicem Vietnam nearly 20 billion VND... In addition, the district also received support from Vinh City People's Committee 2 billion VND, Vietnam Development Investment Bank - Nghe An Branch 4 billion VND. Based on the support capital of enterprises, localities, social organizations, Tuong Duong district has effectively combined with the investment sources of the Government to build solid 670/873 classrooms.

Talking to us, Mr. Vi Tan Hoi - Vice Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee said: "To create trust and prestige with investors, the district has managed and used the funding well. During the construction process, we selected reputable contractors, closely supervised, completed the project on schedule, ensuring the aesthetics and quality of the project. When supervising, the supporting units were very satisfied, they felt that the investment source was really effective, bringing benefits to students who are children of ethnic minorities. Therefore, many sponsors agreed to continue supporting the district in building school facilities...".

Having adequate facilities has promoted the emulation movement of good teaching and good learning in schools. Statistics from the district education sector show that in the past 3 years, the number of students dropping out of school has decreased significantly, and the overall quality of education has improved significantly. For example, in Xa Luong commune, in previous years, the dropout rate was 7-8%, but after the DTNT Secondary School was solidly built, support policies for students were promptly resolved, the dropout rate decreased to 0.5%. Or in Tam Hop commune, after 12 classrooms and 8 solid boarding rooms were built, students in villages near the border such as Pa Lom, Huoi Son, and Phong village no longer dropped out of school.

Parents even “supply” more food and encourage their children to stay at school on Saturdays and Sundays so that teachers can tutor them. The Party Secretary of Pa Lom village, Mr. Xong Ba No, said: “In the past, every time a new school year started, parents had to build bamboo and rattan huts near the school for their children to study. There were times when life was difficult, so the children went home and missed a lot of school. But since last year, when the school built dormitories for students, that situation has disappeared. The villagers are also more secure, encouraging their children to study well...”.

By mobilizing capital and organizing construction and timely and strict supervision, schools in commune centers of the district have been gradually built solidly. The way Tuong Duong district does it is to conduct a thorough survey of school construction sites, both to facilitate teachers and students and to avoid places where landslides may occur, creating sustainability for the project. Up to now, in the centers of 18 communes and towns of Tuong Duong district, there are solid secondary schools. However, there are still 27% of classrooms in the villages (branches of schools in villages far from the commune center) in a state of disrepair, makeshift or have to borrow community activity houses. The biggest difficulty is investing in construction in remote villages, which is both costly in terms of raw materials and difficult in transportation and construction. Each classroom in remote villages with difficult terrain, if built solidly, will cost 4 to 5 times more than other places in the district.

This was most evident in 2012, when the district piloted the construction of two solid classrooms at the Na Ngan hamlet, Nga My commune. To complete these two classrooms, the investment amounted to 4.7 billion VND, while in other areas, the cost was about 300 million VND/classroom. Therefore, in addition to continuing to mobilize support from businesses, the district shifted to building classrooms at the remote locations using wood or other materials available in the area. The goal set for 2014 is that the district will build 50 more classrooms, meeting the basic requirements for facilities for teaching and learning.

A new school year has come to the highland villages with the concerns of all levels and sectors to have “3 enough” (enough food, enough clothes, enough books) for students to go to school. In addition, Tuong Duong district as well as other mountainous districts are making efforts and continuing to mobilize support from organizations and businesses to provide “2 more enough” for students in remote areas, which are enough classrooms and enough rooms for rent.

Nguyen Son