A meal with meat in the highlands of Mu Cang Chai.

NDO - The boarding primary and secondary school in Che Tao commune has 554 students, including 319 primary school students. Thanks to government investment, boarding students have a better life than at home, with meals and accommodation provided at the school. In order to build a "Happy School," besides ensuring a safe learning environment, teachers have strived to ensure meals are served in the correct quantities and meet food safety and hygiene standards.

Che Tao is a particularly disadvantaged commune in Mu Cang Chai district ( Yen Bai province ), located nearly 240km from Yen Bai city. Of this, almost 40km must be traveled from Mu Cang Chai town, crossing the Hang Giang and Che Tao peaks, which contain a pristine forest, to reach the commune center.

Originally the most disadvantaged area in Yen Bai province, with only 2 out of 6 villages currently having access to the power grid, Viettel managed to install telephone coverage poles for three villages – Hang Tay, Ke Ca, and Pu Va – more than two months ago. The lives of the H'Mong people in this area are still fraught with difficulties.

Providing financial support to the school. (Photo: THANH SON)

According to Principal Mua The Quynh, the boarding primary and secondary school in Che Tao commune has 554 students, including 319 primary school students. Thanks to government investment, boarding students have a better life than at home, with meals and accommodation provided at the school.

In order to build a "Happy School," in addition to ensuring a safe learning environment, teachers make great efforts to ensure meals are served in the correct quantities and that food hygiene and safety are maintained.

To reduce fuel costs, a parent-teacher meeting was held to agree that each student would contribute 4kg of dry firewood monthly, saving the money to improve meals. Each family only needed to collect one motorbikeload of firewood per school year, contributing nearly 40kg. It turns out that, despite the difficulties, this highland region has found an ingenious solution, all with the goal of prioritizing the well-being of its beloved students.

Parents bring firewood to the school's kitchen. (Photo: THANH SON)

In order to support boarding students in particularly disadvantaged areas, through useful information channels, the Internal Asset Management Board and the Vietnam Investment and Development Bank, Yen Bai Provincial Branch, have visited this disadvantaged region.

In addition to donating books, warm blankets, and essential supplies to the Lao Chai ethnic boarding school (worth 60 million VND), the delegation also provided warm blankets, school uniforms, and organized meals with meat for students at the Che Tao primary and secondary boarding school, with a value of over 50 million VND.

Providing financial support to underprivileged students who overcome difficulties. (Photo: THANH SON)

Teacher Hoang Thi Thanh Chi has been dedicated to this remote school for 13 years, married, and has two children. Currently, her youngest child, over 3 years old, lives with her in Che Tao, while her older child is raised by her maternal grandmother. Missing her children and husband, she travels back to visit them once a month, crossing the high mountains. Due to motion sickness, she often travels by motorbike for over 6 hours to her hometown in Tran Yen district, nearly 250km away. Her love for the children in this particularly difficult area has helped her to love her profession and fulfill both roles as a woman.

Wow, there's so much meat! (Photo: THANH SON)

Amidst the hustle and bustle of preparing lunch for the boarding students, teacher Sung A Hong said that yesterday, the sponsoring unit transported two pigs, each weighing over 100 kilograms, and immediately slaughtered one to prepare meals for over 500 children. Today, in addition to the daily standard meal (tofu, minced meat, boiled vegetables), each meal included boiled lean meat and pork sausage, providing the children with extra nutrition.

Let's eat! (Photo: THANH SON)

Giàng Thị Dua, a third-grade student whose home is over 15km from the school, attends the boarding program all week and only gets picked up by her father on Friday afternoons. When asked about the fresh meal with added meat, she honestly said: "At home, only during Tet (Lunar New Year) or the harvest festival does my father slaughter a pig and have so much meat to eat like this. I would like to thank the teachers and staff for adding joy to the school and us students."

Seeing the children happily enjoying their communal meal with added meat, the philanthropists felt even happier and reminded themselves that they would return next time, bringing with them more compassionate meals for the children in this mountainous region.

Mr. Mua A Sua, recently elected Chairman of the People's Committee of Che Tao commune by the People's Council, happily stated that the people of Che Tao commune are very studious, and there is no longer the problem of children of school age staying at home and not attending school as before.

Family-based education promotion associations support each other in sending their children to school, and many have achieved success at the provincial and national levels. Many doctors, engineers, and officers in the armed forces have all risen to prominence thanks to their education.

Currently, the ethnic boarding school in the commune, with over 500 students, has been invested in with modern facilities, and the kitchen and living quarters are inspected to be clean and tidy, with cabinets for storing food samples for verification. As a result, the school has not experienced any food poisoning incidents for many consecutive years.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/bua-com-co-thit-o-vung-cao-mu-cang-chai-post843887.html