Thanh Chuong: Effectiveness from socialization and innovation in education management

(Baonghean) - The changes in Thanh Chuong's education during the 2010 - 2015 term created the premise and motivation to continue to develop the district's education career, contributing to improving the quality of human resources.

Thanh Tien Kindergarten currently has 8 classrooms of sufficient size, fully equipped with music, medical, kitchen and administrative buildings, ensuring conditions for organizing semi-boarding for 100% of children with a total of 253 children. With the current spacious facilities, each year, parents voluntarily contribute an average of 500 thousand VND/parent or more; at the same time, they contribute working days to renovate and complete some items in the school. In particular, the Traffic Construction Corporation 4 has supported 1.5 billion VND to build more classrooms and renovate the campus and playground. At Thanh Tien Primary School, although it was recognized as a standard before 2010, over time and compared to the new standard requirements, it has not met them.

In 2014, the commune called for and received support from Hung Thinh Company Limited in Vinh City of 6 billion VND to build a high-rise school. The secondary school was also built high-rise and has met national standards. The commune has mobilized resources from businesses, children living far from home and philanthropists to support the construction of schools. In the commune, 13/13 hamlets with 30 schools have a scholarship fund... "The total mobilized investment capital for schools during the term is over 14 billion VND, of which the source from the solidification program and the commune budget is 5 billion VND, the rest is from socialized sources. The current results are that 3 schools in the commune have met national standards level I and are continuing to invest in building to meet standards level II", said comrade Nguyen Van Loan, Secretary of the Thanh Tien Commune Party Committee.

A class at Thanh Khe Secondary School (Thanh Chuong).

In 2012, Thanh Phong Kindergarten had 8/16 classes arranged to study at 8 village cultural houses, 3 classes at the cooperative's shops. In that situation, the Party Committee and the commune government prioritized choosing a suitable location, planning to build a primary school on an area of ​​11,000m2; at the same time, mobilizing resources to invest in construction with a total cost of 9.5 billion VND, of which the State supported 6.4 billion VND, the people contributed 1.5 billion VND, the rest from the local budget. Now, Thanh Phong Kindergarten has become the most beautiful school in Thanh Chuong district and was recognized as meeting the standards for the 2014-2015 school year. The commune's secondary school was invested in building high-rise buildings and was recognized as a standard school in 2013.

Comrade Nguyen Van Ngoc, Secretary of the Thanh Phong Commune Party Committee, said: The 2010-2015 term was marked as a successful term in mobilizing social capital to invest in education. In 5 years, people contributed over 3 billion VND and thousands of working days. The locality also took advantage of contributions from businesses and sister units such as Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company supporting 300 million VND; some other businesses supported schools with clean water tanks, desks, chairs, computers; military units such as Battalion 14 and Battalion of Division 324, Military Region IV supported both material and working days to renovate and upgrade spacious schools.

It is expected that by the end of 2015, Thanh Chuong district will have 79/129 schools meeting standards, accounting for 62%, exceeding the target set by the Resolution of the 29th Party Congress, term 2010 - 2015 (plan 60%). There are 8 communes with 3/3 schools meeting standards. Teacher Dang Van Hoa, Head of the district's Department of Education and Training, affirmed: "In addition to State resources, localities proactively carry out socialization work, contributing to accelerating the process of building standard schools".

Innovation in school management

Although the district has a tradition of studiousness and good learning, in the first few years of the 2010-2015 term, the quality of education in Thanh Chuong has stagnated, even regressed compared to the previous term. The Standing Committee of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee held many meetings to analyze and determine the breakthrough point is to innovate management work and improve the quality of education. At the end of 2012, the district transferred cadres from the District Party Committee to work as Head of the Department of Education and Training. Next, based on the advice of the Department of Education and Training, the District People's Committee issued a Decision regulating the organization, job positions and standards for each position of the department. From this standard regulation, many managers and excellent teachers in schools were transferred to take on important positions. At the same time, the team of school principals was arranged, transferred and appointed to ensure that they met the requirements of the tasks. The Standing Committee of the District Party Committee also held a meeting with the principals of 39 secondary schools in the district (the weakest level of education) to clarify each weak point in each school, on that basis assigning the principals of the schools to be responsible for finding solutions to improve the quality of education.

The Department of Education and Training has advocated focusing on the grassroots by assigning leaders and specialists to direct each level of education and school and organizing quality contracts for schools each year in conjunction with competition targets. From this activity, schools have paid attention to innovating management and teaching methods, improving the quality of education. Principals of schools actively observe classes, visit classes, participate in professional group activities, and give comments on each lesson and subject. Schools also organize competitions for excellent teachers at the school level in the form, content, and common topics for the whole district to evaluate the general level of teachers. The Department of Education and Training has also advised on the issuance of decisions on criteria for evaluating and classifying schools from facilities to teaching staff; quality of mass education, quality of key education; landscape of pedagogical environment; positivity in participating in competitions, competition regimes, reporting... in a practical direction.

Discussing the effectiveness of the above solutions, comrade Nguyen Khanh Son, Party Cell Secretary, Principal of Thanh Linh Secondary School, said: “Last school year, the school’s quality increased by 13 levels, ranking 2nd in the district and increased by 131 levels at the provincial level, ranking in the top 100 schools/450 secondary schools in the province. The number of excellent students in the district in the 2013-2014 school year was 75 students/229 students in the whole school.”

With positive solutions, the quality of education in Thanh Chuong district has improved in recent years. If in the 2012-2013 school year, the average score for the 10th grade entrance exam was 22.39 points, ranking 14th in the province, then in the following school year (2013-2014), the average score increased to 27 points, ranking 11th in the province. The rate of excellent students at the district level increased from 8.3% in 2011 to 10.3% in 2015; excellent students at the provincial level increased from 0.38% in 2011 to 0.48% in 2015 and 2 students achieved national excellent students. The number and quality of students passing the university entrance exams are increasing. In 2014, 1,200 students passed the university entrance exams, including 3 valedictorians, 3 salutatorians and 11 students who took the exam with 27 points or more. In the 2015 university entrance exam alone, preliminary information showed that 15 students scored 27 points or more. The changes in Thanh Chuong's education during the 2010-2015 term created the premise and motivation to continue to advance the district's education career, contributing to improving the quality of human resources.

Article and photos:Minh Chi