Efforts to narrow the educational gap between mountainous and plain areas

After the merger, the education sector of Da Nang city is making efforts to shorten the gap between the mountainous areas and the plains (in terms of education quality, facilities, teaching staff, etc.).

Attention should be paid to improving the quality of education in mountainous areas. Illustration photo: Xuan Phu

Leading role

In the 2025-2026 school year, the number of schools in Da Nang city will increase significantly with 971 public schools and 212 non-public schools, nearly 671 thousand students from preschool to high school, becoming one of the localities with the largest educational scale in the country after the merger.

But thanks to reasonable planning, the school network in the city meets the learning needs of students in all communes and wards, from the plains to the mountains, remote areas.

Regarding the quality of education, in recent years, Da Nang city has affirmed its leading position in the Central region as well as the whole country in terms of spearhead quality with a series of impressive achievements in national and international competitions for excellent students.

Most recently, at the National Excellent Student Competition for the 2024-2025 school year, Da Nang won a total of 140 prizes, including 8 first prizes and 25 second prizes. In the international arena, Da Nang students also shined when they brought home 3 gold medals at the 2025 International Math Olympiad in Turkmenistan, including Tran Quang Nhat (grade 12, Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted), Nguyen Tri Hien and Nguyen Tri Hau (grade 11, Nguyen Binh Khiem High School for the Gifted).

Possessing a solid foundation of human resources (excellent students and a team of highly skilled teachers) and effective solutions to improve quality, Da Nang education in the coming time has all the conditions to create a new turning point in the development journey, continuing to affirm its position as the leading locomotive of the Central region.

After the merger of Quang Nam province and Da Nang city, implementing the 2-level government model, the education and training sector continues to receive great attention from the city. At the opening ceremony of the 2025-2026 school year, in addition to the city leaders, for the first time all comrades of the city Party Committee, leaders of departments, branches and sectors were assigned to attend at many schools in the city.

The principal of a school in the mountains shared that the presence of city leaders not only brought joy on the first day of school but also encouraged and motivated teachers and students before the new school year.

In addition, in order to meet the learning needs of children and contribute to the socio-economic development of mountainous areas, Da Nang City has launched the Tay Giang Commune Boarding School, Primary and Secondary School with a total investment of VND 262 billion, expected to be completed and put into use from the 2026-2027 school year, serving the learning and accommodation of 1,000 local students. In addition, 6 border schools will also be started in the near future.

Shorten regional distance

Shortening the gap between the plains and the mountains, from facilities, staff, to education quality, has been the biggest concern for educators in recent times, especially in the old Quang Nam province, where half of the localities are mountainous.

Students of Dong Giang mountainous high school. Photo: Xuan Phu

While school facilities in the plains are quite spacious, the mountainous areas still face many difficulties and shortages. This is shown through the statistics on national standard schools in 2024 of Quang Nam province (old).

While nearly 100% of the delta localities have completed the standard school target, Bac Tra My district (old) still has 29 kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools that have not met the standards (out of a total of 39 schools).

Similarly, Dong Giang district (old) still has 18 schools that have not met the standards (out of 27 schools) or Nam Tra My (old) has 18/29 schools that have not met the standards. Therefore, in the coming time, there needs to be a breakthrough in investing in infrastructure for education in mountainous areas.

Mountainous areas are also facing the problem of a shortage of teachers, which greatly affects teaching and learning activities and the quality of education.

Therefore, although the quality of the spearhead has many positive changes, the rate of students admitted to top universities nationwide is quite high, the average score of the annual graduation exams of Quang Nam province (old) is quite low, in the bottom group of the national rankings (ranked 47th in 2023, ranked 53rd in 2024).

When he was the Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Nam province (formerly), Mr. Thai Viet Tuong was very concerned about finding solutions to improve the quality of education in mountainous areas and shorten the gap between mountainous areas and the plains.

In addition to focusing on improving the quality of teaching and learning, the education sector of Quang Nam (old) has a policy of strengthening high school graduation exam preparation for students in mountainous areas. After the school year ends, teachers and students stay at school to review for the exam until the day of the high school graduation exam.

Along with that, Quang Nam province (old) has a policy to support teachers and students during the exam preparation period; thereby creating motivation for teachers and students to feel secure in teaching and learning. Thanks to that, mountainous schools have increased their graduation rates, contributing to the overall results of the province.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/no-luc-rut-ngan-khoang-cach-giao-duc-giua-mien-nui-va-dong-bang-3302627.html