Building a standard school: No formality

(Baonghean.vn) - The goal of building a national standard school is to strive to meet the necessary standards of a school, ensuring comprehensive quality of educational activities. Accordingly, national standard schools must meet 5 criteria: Quality of management staff (School Board of Directors); Quality of teaching staff; School and classroom facilities; Implementation of socialization of education; Quality of all aspects of student education.

In fact, to build a school that meets national standards, the most difficult thing is the funding to upgrade facilities and equipment to meet standards. In recent years, the Party committees, authorities, social organizations and the majority of Vinh city people have become more aware of their roles, responsibilities, tasks and direct and indirect benefits in the cause of education development. Vinh city people have actively contributed to building facilities, purchasing more equipment for teaching and learning, creating conditions for education to develop continuously.



A class of children at Sao Mai kindergarten, Quan Bau ward.

A typical example is Sao Mai Kindergarten (formerly belonging to Le Loi Ward). In 2005, the school was separated to the new Quan Bau Ward. In order to improve the quality of childcare and education, as well as create a new position, there is no other way but to improve the quality of the teaching staff and the facilities. Determining that, the school proactively improved the quality of the teaching staff, trained and fostered the professional skills of teachers, and actively and closely consulted with the local government to build facilities. Recognizing the determination of the Board of Directors, Quan Bau Ward agreed to approve the project to build a new school with a total budget of more than 9 billion VND on a campus of 5,100m2. Sao Mai Kindergarten officially moved to the new facility at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. Although still in the completion stage, the school already has 10 standard classrooms according to regulations (each classroom has a common room, bedroom, bathroom and play porch with full minimum amenities), with all functional rooms. The ward also invested in purchasing 14 sets of computers and called on units, organizations and individuals in the ward to contribute.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Mai - Principal of Sao Mai Kindergarten said: along with Quan Bau Ward investing 9 billion VND to build the school, at the beginning of the 2011 - 2012 school year, the forces in the ward contributed 117 million VND to help the school equip more furniture (tables, chairs, beds, blankets, mats) for the classrooms and nap rooms for the children. The school strives to achieve national standard school status in the coming school year.

Responding to the campaign to voluntarily contribute to building school facilities, in the 2010-2011 school year, parents of students in kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools in Vinh city contributed 10.828 billion VND, and schools used 7.952 billion VND to buy equipment, teaching aids, and reference books; in the first semester of the 2011-2012 school year, kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools in Vinh city contributed 10.937 billion VND and spent 6.480 billion VND.

With those practical actions, by the end of 2011, 36/52 primary and secondary schools had standard libraries; 37/41 kindergartens, 24/29 primary schools and 100% of secondary schools had teaching equipment rooms; kindergartens had 507, primary schools had 652 and secondary schools had 741 computers; out of 1,331 classrooms in kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, 1,243 were solid, with only 77 semi-solid. With such high consensus, the progress of building national standard schools in Vinh city is still assessed as slow.

In the 1995-1996 school year, Vinh city and Nam Dan district were the first two localities chosen by the Nghe An Department of Education and Training to directly direct the construction of national standard schools. In the 1997-1998 school year, Nghe An had 3 primary schools: Cua Nam, Hung Dung 1 and Kim Lien recognized as meeting national standards, of which 2 schools were located in Vinh city.

By the end of May 2012, Vinh city had 54/102 schools meeting national standards, of which 20/41 were preschool, 24/29 were primary, 07/23 were secondary and 3/9 were high school; in addition, there were 08 primary schools and 01 preschool meeting level 2 standards.

Compared to other localities in the province, the rate of schools meeting national standards in Vinh city in recent years has been behind many districts and towns. At the end of 2008, Vinh City's Education Department ranked 6th. At the beginning of 2010, Vinh continued to drop to 7th place, behind Quy Chau and Yen Thanh. By mid-2011, Vinh reached 51% and dropped one more place, ranking 8th, behind Quy Chau and Con Cuong.

According to Mr. Thai Khac Tan - Head of Vinh Department of Education and Training: School management; teaching staff; socialization of education; activities and educational quality of schools are no longer obstacles in building schools that meet national standards, because if we consider those 4 contents separately, almost all schools meet the standards. The only difficulty is the condition of school facilities and equipment. The reason for this situation is due to the difficult economic conditions of wards and communes, not having enough to invest in schools.

However, many opinions of education managers as well as industry leaders believe that: the remaining primary schools in Vinh have not met national standards not because of lack of classrooms, lack of teaching and learning equipment. The schools have not met national standards because the landscape of the school campus, which is the pedagogical environment of the school, has not met the requirements of being green, clean, beautiful, quiet, airy; ensuring hygiene requirements: having a clean water source, having a toilet area, having a drainage system, having green walls or fences... When these requirements are not met, it will lead to failure to meet the requirements of comprehensive education.

Thus, the above requirements do not require as much money as building classrooms and functional rooms. Hung Loc Commune - a suburban commune, people's lives are mainly agriculture and small business, but all 3 schools meet national standards. Hung Loc Primary School is also a model for life skills education for students with a friendly and positive learning environment. Or Chau Binh 1 Primary School - a mountainous school with difficult economic conditions, but with the dynamism of Principal Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, she has aroused in each teacher a love for the profession, love for children, and dedication to students and the school. The heart and actions of the school and teachers have made parents feel secure, confident in sending their children as well as supporting the school both materially and spiritually.

The models and examples of building, consolidating and developing national standard schools show the important role of the principal who must be dedicated, have vision, be energetic and proactive in creating concrete results and practical work. The local government and people will certainly support it; parents will spare no effort or money to contribute to building schools for their children.

I think that building a standard school is the right thing to do, the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of education. Therefore, when building a standard school, it is necessary to ensure the criteria according to regulations, but not for the sake of form, reputation and achievements.

Thao Nhi