Ensuring teaching and learning in flood-affected areas: Short-term adaptation and long-term initiative

GD&TĐ - Faced with unpredictable developments of natural disasters, many schools and localities in flood-prone areas, which regularly face the risk of flooding, flash floods, landslides, etc., have had immediate adaptation solutions and proactive long-term prevention.

Thereby ensuring safety for students and teachers as well as stability and uninterrupted teaching programs and plans.

Student management, teaching organization during the rainy and stormy season

After more than a week of school closure due to rising floodwaters, schools in Lam Thanh commune, Nghe An have now resumed teaching. Ms. Cao Thi Hang - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Lam Thanh Commune Party Committee, said: All 16 schools had to close for 5-7 days to wait for the water to recede and carry out recovery work. Local authorities also mobilized forces to support schools to soon stabilize teaching and learning.

Chau Nhan Kindergarten (Lam Thanh Commune) is located outside the Lam River dike and is often flooded during the rainy and stormy season. Ms. Nguyen Thi Linh - Principal of the school, informed that with experience from previous rainy and stormy seasons, when the water started to recede, the school mobilized staff and teachers to quickly clean up, take advantage of the flood water to push mud out.

“After cleaning the entire school campus, we sprayed disinfectants and mosquito repellent to prevent disease because preschool children have weak immune systems and are boarding students, so the risk of being bitten by mosquitoes and contracting diseases is very high,” said the Principal of Chau Nhan Kindergarten.

Bich Hao Commune (Nghe An) is also a locality in the lower Lam River, often flooded during the rainy season. Mr. Nguyen Khanh Thanh - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, said: After the flood passed, the commune mobilized forces to work with the school to clean up classrooms and check for damaged equipment to have a repair plan in the near future.

To ensure safety for students during the rainy season, the locality has reviewed the roads in the commune. The commune's viewpoint is that only when absolute safety is guaranteed will students be allowed to go to school, to avoid unfortunate incidents.

Mr. Dang Anh Dung - Principal of Thanh Mai Secondary School (Bich Hao, Nghe An), said: During the storm, the school had to let students stay home to ensure safety. Organizing online teaching is also not feasible due to power outages, loss of communication signal, and the families of students and teachers of the school are also affected and flooded. Therefore, the optimal solution is to ensure safety conditions, then organize teaching again and have a reasonable make-up plan.

“In the first days, the number of students attending school will not be full because many hamlets are still flooded and students will have difficulty going to school. We do not rush to teach the program but teach slowly and steadily so that students can absorb it. Currently, the school has implemented 2 sessions/day, so the 2nd session will be dedicated to consolidating knowledge for students. Students who are absent from school will be grouped by grade level for tutoring and make-up lessons for each subject,” said Mr. Dang Anh Dung.

Students of Yen Tinh Ethnic Minority Secondary School (Yen Na, Nghe An) can study with peace of mind in a safe and spacious school. Photo: NTCC

Experience from flood-prone areas

Son Hong Primary and Secondary School (Son Hong Commune, Nghe An), a place that regularly experiences whirlwinds and is at high risk of flash floods, always puts disaster prevention work first.

In the 2025-2026 school year, the school has more than 500 students. The school closely coordinates with local authorities to review landslide sites and map vulnerable areas to be ready for evacuation when necessary. Parents are also required to sign a commitment to cooperate in keeping their children safe during school holidays due to storms and floods.

Mr. Tran Duc Dan - Principal, shared: "We have determined the motto "4 on-site" to not be passive in any situation. Every teacher considers students as their own children, the top priority is their safety".

At Cam Due Primary School (Cam Due Commune), when there is a warning of heavy rain, all teaching materials and equipment are moved from the ground floor to the second floor, and trees around the school are trimmed to avoid breaking. Important items such as books and electronic devices are carefully wrapped to prevent moisture and moved to a secure, private area.

Principal Dang Thi Thanh Hoa said: "We always prepare plans to protect facilities and records, to avoid damage when storms come unexpectedly."

Cam Due Primary School ( Ha Tinh ) wrapped school supplies and brought them to safe areas. Photo: Ho Phuong

In Tien Dien Commune, Xuan Yen Primary School is located close to the sea and is often directly affected when storms make landfall. The school has implemented measures such as bracing the roof, moving equipment, and removing banners and slogans to minimize damage. Dien My Primary School (Ha Linh Commune) is located in a low-lying area and is often surrounded by floodwaters for many days. However, thanks to careful preparation, the school has never had any teaching equipment or records damaged.

Principal Nguyen Thi Lan shared: “As the school is located in a flood-prone area, when the weather is unusual, we are always ready to deal with it. In addition to ensuring the safety of belongings, the most important factor to pay attention to is the students. Many times when the water rises unexpectedly, in case boarding students have to be absent in the middle or at the end of the session, the school must keep them at school until their parents come to pick them up.”

Not only focusing on facilities, schools in Ha Tinh also enhance the response capacity of teachers and students through training courses and flood simulation drills. Students are instructed on how to recognize risks, escape skills, maintain hygiene and prevent diseases after floods.

Schools are also fully prepared with essential supplies such as life jackets, life buoys, medicine, food and clean water, ready for use in emergency situations. Many schools are also requisitioned as safe shelters for the community if necessary.

A delegation from the Nghe An Department of Education and Training inspected school facilities after the flood in Cua Lo ward. Photo: Ho Lai

Building safe schools

Yen Tinh Ethnic Minority Secondary School (Yen Na, Nghe An) has had to urgently run away from floods many times to keep teachers and students safe. The school is located in the valley, next to Cha Ha stream.

Every year during the rainy season, the school is often flooded when the stream water rises high and fast. One year, the floodwaters came at night, the school teachers only had time to knock on the door to wake the students up, evacuate to higher, safer places, while all important equipment, school supplies, and boarding activities were swept away by the floodwaters or submerged in mud.

“Although we have experience in flood-prone areas, there were times when there was no heavy rain in the school area, but the water from upstream rose in levels, flooding the school, leaving us unable to react. One year, the school had just overcome the consequences of the flood, adding desks, chairs, teaching equipment, and living supplies for boarding students, when it was hit by another flood,” recalled Mr. Nguyen Van Tho, the school’s principal.

To ensure the teaching and learning activities of the school, the school proposed to the commune government for consultation and was approved by the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district (old) to develop an emergency relocation project, mobilizing resources to build a safer school. Due to the high mountainous area and steep terrain, finding a new area with a large area to ensure school construction is difficult to do.

Therefore, the proposed plan is to build a new Yen Tinh Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities at the old location, but with the foundation raised by more than 3 meters. At the same time, a long embankment along Cha Ha stream will be built to prevent flooding during the rainy season. The project has a total cost of over 32 billion VND, of which Thuy Nguyen district, Hai Phong city (old) sponsored 3.6 billion VND, from the socialized fund to support flood victims in the Central region, and was inaugurated and put into use from December 2022.

“Since the new school was built, our teachers and students have not had to worry about floods like in previous years. The school is spacious, with enough classrooms, functional buildings, the principal’s office, and dormitories for teachers and students… contributing to improving the quality of teaching and learning, attracting students to come to school and class more diligently.

This year, the area was affected by 3 consecutive storms, but fortunately our school is still safe, stable, and without major damage. Besides, the households near the school were also not flooded thanks to the flood barrier along Cha Ha stream", Mr. Nguyen Van Tho - Principal of the school happily said.

The border commune of Nhon Mai, Nghe An province, is often at risk of landslides, flash floods, and flash floods every rainy season. This affects teaching and learning as well as boarding for students at schools. Mr. Le Hong Thai - Chairman of Nhon Mai commune, said: After the recent floods, the locality has called for resources to support schools in repairing facilities, supplementing teaching equipment, and boarding rooms.

In the long term, applying the program of building inter-level general schools for border communes, Nhon Mai is one of 6 communes of Nghe An out of 100 schools nationwide to be built in the first phase, expected to be completed in 2026.

The locality has chosen a location to build a school in Cha Lo village with a campus area of ​​52,000m2, of which the school construction area is more than 11,000m2. The scale of the new school is 33 classes with more than 1,200 students. When the school is completed, the locality will send all primary and secondary school students of the commune to study in the dormitory. The new school is safe and spacious, students can rest assured to stay in the dormitory even in stormy weather, with teachers to manage.

Nghe An Department of Education and Training also organized working groups to directly visit and inspect schools damaged by storms in the localities. At the same time, they asked schools to report the damage situation so that they could have a plan to supplement teaching equipment or rebuild damaged and unsafe facilities.

The Department also requires schools to proactively grasp the situation and only re-organize teaching when ensuring the necessary conditions to ensure absolute safety for teachers and students when going to school.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/bao-dam-day-va-hoc-o-vung-lu-thich-ung-truoc-mat-va-chu-dong-lau-dai-post752467.html