Building boarding schools in border areas: Eliminating isolated locations, improving education quality

GD&TĐ - Eliminating isolated locations and investing in inter-level boarding schools in border communes helps highland students have a safe and complete learning environment.

This is an important step to improve the quality of education , create equal learning opportunities and nurture knowledge and dreams for children in disadvantaged areas.

Not enough to meet the demand

The system of ethnic boarding schools (PT DTNT) and semi-boarding schools (PT DTBT) in localities has created opportunities for students to receive comprehensive education, contributing to training quality human resources for the highlands. However, the conditions for organizing boarding and semi-boarding schools in reality have not yet met the needs of learners.

Lai Chau has 11 border communes, most of which have primary and secondary schools that are semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities. However, many students are not eligible for semi-boarding according to the provisions of Decree 66/2025ND-CP. Mr. Hoang A Xa, Huoi Luong 1 village (Phong Tho, Lai Chau) has a child studying in grade 8 at Huoi Luong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, but is not eligible for semi-boarding.

Because his house is about 5km from the school, every day he wakes up early to take his child to school and then returns home to be on time for the fields. Mr. Xa said: “My family does not qualify for the boarding system. Taking my child to school in the morning and picking him up at noon is very difficult. Sometimes I come home late from work and my child has to walk home by himself. Next school year, there is a regulation to study 2 sessions/day, we are very worried about taking our child to school.”

Mr. Nguyen Anh Giang - Vice Principal of Huoi Luong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities said that the school has more than 300 non-boarding students, many of whom are far from the center. Those whose families are well-off have their parents take them to school, while those who are less fortunate have to walk many kilometers of mountainous roads to class, which is very difficult.

Similarly, Dao San Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Dao San, Lai Chau) has about 500/750 students who do not enjoy boarding benefits, many of whom live 5-6km from school. Mr. Mai Van Tuong - Principal said that at this age, children are not old enough to ride motorbikes or electric bicycles, while parents are busy working, so taking their children to school is sometimes possible, sometimes not, many children have to walk to class. Therefore, the rate of students attending class often decreases, affecting the improvement of the school's education quality.

Xuan Truong Primary School for Ethnic Minorities (Xuan Truong, Cao Bang ) has also not met the living and learning needs of students. The school currently has 8 semi-permanent classrooms built in 1999 that have seriously degraded, with no subject, functional, or IT classrooms to implement the new program. There is no clean water, the kitchen and dining room are temporary structures, and the toilets are not enough for use.

The teaching staff also faced many difficulties when there were only 3 small public rooms, lack of water for daily use, making it inconvenient to eat, teach, and take care of boarding students. Ms. Lanh Thi Nham - Principal said: We have tried to take advantage of all available resources, but due to lack of teaching equipment, the application of information technology in teaching is still limited.

Similarly, the Pac Muoi satellite school, part of Dao Vien Primary School (Quoc Viet, Lang Son), has an inadequate kitchen and no medical room or staff. Mr. Hoang Van Diem - Vice Principal said that the school hopes to invest in solid classrooms, public housing, toilets and subject classrooms at the school to ensure the minimum requirements for teaching. In addition, the construction of a dining hall for boarding students and public housing for teachers is extremely urgent.

Flag salute ceremony of teachers and students of Tri Le 4 Primary School, Tri Le border commune, Nghe An. Photo: Ho Lai

Desire to change model

Muong Long 1 Primary School for Ethnic Minorities (Muong Long, Nghe An) currently has no more separate locations. The school's facilities have been invested in by the local authorities, ensuring classrooms, functional rooms as well as boarding houses.

Mr. Trinh Hoang Tuan - Principal shared that at first, the school had a hard time mobilizing and propagating to parents as well as organizing care and management of students. In fact, in the highlands, parents of students go to work far away, leaving their children with their grandparents, or if they live locally, they often go to work on the fields.

Therefore, when students are at school, with teachers to take care of them, manage them, and improve their health and studies, they all make visible progress, gaining the trust of their parents. The school also has the conditions to improve and enhance the effectiveness of comprehensive education.

Ba Che Ethnic Minority Boarding School (Quang Ninh) has 376 students, 100% of whom are children of ethnic minorities. Ms. Bang Thi Ngoc Lan - Principal shared: "People here have economic difficulties, many families go to work in the forest for a whole week and then come back, so when they send their children to boarding school, they will feel secure because there are good conditions for care and learning."

According to Ms. Lan, the school used to be an educational unit under the old Ba Che district and recruited students from the entire district. However, after the administrative arrangement, the school was under the management of the new Ba Che commune. Thus, the school's enrollment scope includes students in the commune, while there are still students in grades 7, 8, and 9 from Luong Minh and Ky Thuong communes. Therefore, the work of educational management and ensuring the regime for students has some problems and is unreasonable.

Lunch of students at Dao San Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities. Photo: Ha Thuan

Dong Van Primary and Secondary School (Hoanh Mo, Quang Ninh) is expected to have 550 students in the 2025-2026 school year, with over 96% of them being ethnic minorities, and the majority of them Dao. Previously, the school belonged to the Ethnic Minority Boarding School system, but from August 2024 it was converted into a regular school. Currently, the school has 245 boarding students who stay at school all week to study, and 30 boarding students by the day.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung - Principal of Dong Van Primary and Secondary School informed that although there is no longer a boarding school model, the demand for boarding and semi-boarding accommodation of students is still high. Teachers still do student management work, have to work on boarding duty but do not receive support.

If it is converted into a boarding school, it will be good for students and teachers. At the same time, it will be convenient for investing in facilities to better serve teaching and learning. Currently, the People's Committee of the commune has proposed to all levels to convert the model to a boarding school to ensure better policies for teachers and students. The leaders of the Department of Education and Training and the working group have surveyed the site.

Mr. Lo Van Thai - Principal of Ka Lang Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Thu Lum, Lai Chau) expressed: "If invested, the inter-level boarding school will meet the learning needs of students. Thereby, focusing on developing education associated with the strategy of sustainable development of border areas, improving the lives of ethnic minorities, and maintaining the national defense posture".

Bac Ly 2 Primary School for Ethnic Minorities (Bac Ly, Nghe An) overcomes the consequences of floods. Photo: Ho Lai

Policy implementation

Bac Ly Commune (Nghe An) is in a difficult time when it is heavily affected by floods. In particular, Bac Ly 2 Primary School for Ethnic Minorities and Buoc Village Kindergarten were submerged in mud, damaged boarding houses for students, teachers' dormitories, and many other teaching equipment and supplies.

Mr. Pham Viet Phuc - Chairman of Bac Ly Commune People's Committee said that in the immediate future, the locality will mobilize resources to overcome the consequences of the flood. Repairing facilities, especially the student dormitory and teacher dormitory, to put them into use when the new school year begins.

However, in the coming time, Bac Ly commune will re-plan the school system, integrating it into the inter-level boarding school program in the border area. Specifically, it is expected to expand the area at the current Bac Ly Ethnic Minority Secondary School to convert and build it into an inter-level boarding school for primary and secondary schools.

For villages far from the center, students from grade 3 and above can be sent to boarding schools, maintaining separate points for grades 1 and 2. When the facilities are fully completed, the locality and the school will mobilize and promote to bring all students to boarding schools to enjoy the best educational conditions.

Implementing Notice No. 81 of the Politburo on the construction of inter-level general schools for border communes, the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An has assessed, compiled and submitted a list of 21 schools expected to be invested in and built in 21 border communes. The inter-level boarding schools have 1,029 classes (including 549 primary classes and 480 secondary classes) with more than 39,000 students and 1,736 teachers. Of which, more than 30,000 students will stay in the dormitory. The total investment for the 21 schools is more than 5 trillion VND.

Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training said that when implementing the construction of 21 inter-level boarding schools in the border area, the commune-level government is the investor, responsible for taking care of the land fund, at least 4 hectares to ensure playgrounds and training grounds for 1,500 students or more. Focusing on investment and establishing prestigious and quality boarding schools will gradually eliminate isolated locations and bring students to inter-level schools. Thereby creating conditions for students to have the best learning environment, ensuring fairness in access to educational opportunities.

In response to urgent needs, Lang Son province has approved a plan to build a boarding school system in 11 border communes. In the 2025-2026 school year, it is expected that 3-4 schools will be started, creating the premise for merging, concentrating teachers and students, and improving the effectiveness of education in disadvantaged areas.

In Quang Ninh, Mr. Dinh Ngoc Son - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training shared that in the province, there are nearly 1,800 students studying at 5 ethnic minority boarding schools and more than 60 students studying at 2 ethnic minority boarding schools. “After the merger, the whole province has 9 border communes and wards. However, Mong Cai 1, Mong Cai 2 and Mong Cai 3 wards are urban areas, so the locality proposed not to build boarding schools in these 3 wards. For the remaining 6 border communes, 6 to 8 schools will be built, some communes will build 2 schools. Quang Ninh proposed to build on the basis of expanding and upgrading existing schools. Currently, the province has compiled a report to the Ministry,” Mr. Son informed.

When building an inter-level boarding school, students from communes not in the border area, if they have a need, can still transfer to study, to access the educational environment and quality teaching staff. The new school is modern in both facilities and staff quality, is a trusted destination for people and students in mountainous and border areas, contributing to training human resources for the locality and the country. - Mr. Thai Van Thanh (Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training)

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/xay-truong-noi-tru-vung-bien-gioi-xoa-diem-le-nang-chat-giao-duc-post746481.html