Protest against school merger in Nghe An: Time for students to return to school set

On September 12, Mr. Thai Van Thanh, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An, and a working delegation visited two branches of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School to listen to opinions from parents, schools, and localities about the school merger.

Mr. Thai Van Thanh, Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training, inspected facilities at Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School.

After surveying both schools, Mr. Thanh assessed that the goal of merging schools is to focus resources on investing in facilities and improving the quality of education . However, the merger must have the consent of parents.

“For the time being, the school will continue to maintain a separate location to stabilize teaching and learning. For extracurricular activities, foreign language and computer classes, the school needs to inform parents of the schedule to ensure harmony,” said Mr. Thanh.

Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training inspects the computer room of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School

The Director of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training requested the Board of Directors of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School to quickly prepare facilities, arrange teachers, coordinate with the Parents' Representative Committee to welcome the children back to school next Monday (September 15), and have a plan to make up for the program for the students.

"The board of directors of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School arranges a reasonable schedule and agrees with parents on the time to pick up and drop off children from branch 2 to the main location to study foreign languages and information technology every week," Mr. Thanh emphasized.

Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School (main campus) is spaciously built, meeting the teaching and learning needs of students of both branches.

Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School is built spaciously, cleanly, has functional rooms, campus, teaching equipment, teaching staff... ensuring teaching and learning according to the new general education program.

Merging two branches is necessary, in line with the trend and planning of the school network, meeting the requirements of teaching and learning in the current period. However, the merger must create consensus and unity among parents, not causing disruption or interruption to the children's learning.

Mr. Thai Van Thanh listens to parents' concerns

On the same day, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Thien Nhan Commune signed a decision to temporarily suspend the merger of Branch 2 of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School into the main school. Local leaders also requested the school's Board of Directors to urgently prepare facilities and environmental sanitation at Branch 2 to ensure teaching and learning, starting from September 15.

Temporarily stop merging branch 2 of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School to the main school.

Ms. Le Thi Lan, Principal of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School, said that after the commune government decided to stop the merger, the school mobilized human resources and encouraged the participation of parents to clean the campus and rearrange classrooms and functional rooms at branch 2.

Some desks, chairs, and teaching equipment at Branch 2 have been moved to the main school. Teachers and staff are currently working on professional tasks, so the preparation of facilities to welcome the children back to school will be done during the 2 weekend days.

Parents join in cleaning the school so that students can return to school on Monday (September 15)

As reported, after the opening ceremony of the new school year 2025 - 2026, many parents of students at Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School, Thien Nhan Commune, requested the local authorities and the school to open schools at separate locations for students to study.

People do not agree with the school merger because they think that if the schools are merged into the main campus, it will make picking up and dropping off children difficult and the roads will be potentially dangerous.