Parents' reaction after their child's boarding benefits were cut: Commune changes approval criteria

On January 18, Mr. Vo Dinh Nho - Principal of Thanh Mai Secondary School (Thanh Chuong District) said that the Boarding School Policy Review Council had just confirmed that 38 students of the school would receive this policy in the second semester of the 2017/2018 school year. "The Council consists of 44 people, meeting and reviewing the documents for an entire session," said Mr. Nho, one of the members of the Council.

According to principal Vo Dinh Nho, this semester the Review Board received 44 applications from Thanh Mai Secondary School students requesting to be granted boarding status. However, after review, 6 applications were rejected.

“Of these 6 students, 3 students’ houses are not more than 7 km away, and the landlord of the other 3 students did not confirm whether they were renting a place to stay or not,” said Mr. Nho. Similar to the middle school, Thanh Mai Primary School also has nearly 20 students confirmed to enjoy this policy in the second semester.

Thanh Mai Secondary School had only one student enjoying the boarding regime last semester. Photo: TH

Meanwhile, in the first semester of the 2017/2018 school year, only one student in Thanh Mai Secondary School received meals and boarding accommodation. In previous school years, this number was usually more than 40 students.

The sudden cutoff of boarding school support for a large number of students was so sudden that, at the beginning of the last school year, the Thanh Chuong District People's Committee had already transported 3.5 tons of rice to Thanh Mai Secondary School and 4.7 tons of rice to the primary school. After distributing too much, leaving it in the warehouse for half a month, the school had to hire a truck to transport tons of rice to other communes in need.

Students were cut off from boarding school due to unclear criteria.

(Baonghean) - Many parents in Thanh Mai commune (Thanh Chuong) are upset because the Commune People's Committee suddenly did not approve their children to continue receiving boarding support for a particularly difficult commune.

Nghe An: Parents react because their children's boarding benefits were cut off

(Baonghean.vn) - Many parents in the particularly disadvantaged commune of Thanh Mai (Thanh Chuong, Nghe An) are upset because the Commune People's Committee suddenly refused to approve their children to continue enjoying the boarding support regime.

Dozens of parents have sent a petition to Nghe An Newspaper after not receiving money and rice like in previous years. The money and rice that the parents complained about is under Decree 116/2016/ND-CP on support policies for students and schools in extremely disadvantaged communes and villages.

The conditions for primary and secondary school students to enjoy the support policy are that they and their parents or guardians have permanent residence in communes and villages with special difficulties and are studying at primary and secondary schools in communes in region III, particularly difficult villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; their houses are 4 km or more from school for primary school students and 7 km or more for secondary school students or the terrain is difficult, traffic is difficult, they have to cross rivers and streams without bridges, go through passes, high mountains, landslides, rocks...

Students in this case are supported with food and housing expenses equal to 50% of the basic salary, plus 15 kg of rice per month. Equivalent to one school year, each student is supported with more than 5 million VND and nearly 150 kg of rice.

The way to school of many students in Thanh Mai commune. Photo: TH

Explaining the decision to cut student support, Principal Vo Dinh Nho said that this decision was made by the Board of Review of Meals and Boarding Accommodation of Thanh Mai Commune People's Committee.

“In terms of the distance from home to school as well as other criteria set forth in the Decree, the students are eligible. However, this school year the council is following the newly issued guidance document of the Ministry of Education and Training, so the students are not eligible,” said Mr. Nho, adding that it is Document 5129/BGDĐT-CTHSSV dated October 14, 2016.

According to this document, students who are eligible for support must meet the criteria of “not being able to go to school and return home during the day”.

However, after Nghe An Newspaper reflected and admitted that it was “too rigid”, the Review Council no longer relied on this criterion. “Now the council only relies on two criteria: the house is 7 km or more from the school and is confirmed to be a boarding house,” said Mr. Nho.