Tuong Duong: 94 students live in boarding houses in 4 rooms.

(Baonghean.vn) - This is the situation that Yen Na Secondary School in Yen Na commune, Tuong Duong district, reported to the survey team of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Council on the implementation of the school network planning in the district on the afternoon of November 16th.

The working group surveyed the facilities of the school canteen for boarding students at Yen Na Secondary School, Tuong Duong. Photo: Hoai Thu.

A delegation led by Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, Deputy Head of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Council, conducted a survey at Yen Na and Luu Kien Secondary Schools in Tuong Duong district. These two schools are located in particularly disadvantaged areas of the district and are on the list of schools proposed by Tuong Duong district to be added as boarding schools for ethnic minorities.

In the 2017-2018 school year, the scaleYen Na Secondary School has 8 classes and 248 students, mostly children from ethnic minority groups, with Khmu students accounting for one-third. Yen Na has 9 villages, 6 of which are more than 7km from the school and require crossing many spillways, making it very dangerous for students to travel to school during the rainy season.

According to the principal of Yen Na Hoang Lien Son Secondary School, in recent years, more and more students have expressed a desire to attend boarding school, so the school has requested permission to change its school model.

However, the biggest challenge remained building the infrastructure. After a period of campaigning for support from the people and various levels of government, along with the collective efforts of the school's teachers, they have built four boarding rooms and a kitchen to serve the students.

Teacher Hoang Lien Son also stated: “Currently, one building with 8 classrooms is severely dilapidated and unusable. Compared to the school's existing area, if we want to meet all requirements, we need to build multi-story classrooms to save space. The school has 94 boarding students in 4 rooms, which is very cramped. According to the universal education data, by the 2020-2021 school year, it is expected that there will be 308 students across all grade levels, so planning school facilities and building a boarding school is essential.”

Students from Yen Na Secondary School participate in cleaning and tidying up the school grounds. Photo: Hoai Thu

At Luu Kien Secondary School, following a request from the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, this school needs to be added to the district's list of boarding schools.

Reporting to the delegation, the principal of Luu Kien Secondary School, Dinh Xuan Hong, said that each school year, the school has 8 classes with over 200 students.

Luu Kien commune has 6 villages, 3 of which are far from the school, with difficult roads. Therefore, most students need boarding facilities for their studies. Consequently, the school developed a "Project to establish Luu Kien Ethnic Minority Boarding Junior High School," which was approved by the District People's Committee. Currently, 132 out of 228 students are boarding at the school.

However, the school's current campus is too small to accommodate only 42 boarding students from the furthest village, while the remaining 90 students are living in temporary shelters or renting accommodation near the school.

Mr. La Van Bong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Luu Kien commune, added that the commune and district have approved the construction plan, and when funding is available, priority will be given to building boarding facilities for students first.

The delegation visited the temporary housing for students of Luu Kien Secondary School who rent rooms near the school. Photo: Hoai Thu

During the working sessions, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, Deputy Head of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Council, acknowledged the feedback from the grassroots level and stated that the delegation would compile the findings from the field survey and submit them to the competent authorities to finalize the report on the planning of the school network in the province before the Provincial People's Council meeting.

During the working sessions, the delegation also presented flowers and gifts to congratulate the teachers and staff of the schools on Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20th.

Hoai Thu