Building schools, building border footholds

From the Northern mountainous region to the Central Highlands and the Southwest, a series of inter-level boarding schools have been started.

The entire political system is taking action to realize the major policy of changing the face of education in border areas.

The hardship of "sowing letters" in Ia Mo

Ia Mo is a border commune of Gia Lai province, the proportion of ethnic minorities accounts for 84%. There is no boarding school here so teaching and learning is difficult.

In mid-November, we followed Provincial Road 665 to the Ia Mo border. In the blazing hot weather, groups of students cycled up the steep road, their faces covered in sweat, to get to school on time.

"Learning from" another province

At Nguyen Van Troi Primary and Secondary School in Klah village, several groups of students were playing around, some were sitting under the shade of trees, attentively reading books.

Outside the gate, motorbikes were taking students to class one after another. Ms. Ro Cham Xuen (Klah village) stopped her motorbike beside the school, and after her child got off, she quickly left. When asked about her child's studies, she confided: "My child goes to school twice a day, and has to be picked up four times a day. The road is very long and difficult..."

Before she could ask much, Ms. Ro Cham Xuen started the engine and left. Another car stopped in front of the gate. Ro Lan Bao Ngoc, a 4A student, got out, said goodbye to her mother, and went to class. Ngoc said: "Every day, my mother takes me to school. I just wish there was a boarding school so I could study and play with my friends, so my parents would have less trouble."

Mr. Siu Tho, Party cell secretary and head of Klah village, said that the village has 186 households, life is still difficult, many times the children do not attend class regularly, village cadres have to regularly visit each house to persuade. "People hope to have more boarding schools so that their children can study better, and it will also be less difficult to take them to school" - Mr. Siu Tho said.

Without boarding schools, students in the highlands face many difficulties in studying and traveling. In the photo: Students of Nguyen Van Troi Primary and Secondary School (Ia Mo Commune, Gia Lai Province) walk home after school.

According to Mr. Ngo Van Vung, Vice Principal of Nguyen Van Troi Primary and Secondary School, the school has nearly 500 students, studying at 1 main school and 3 separate locations. Teaching and learning scattered across 4 locations makes it difficult to manage and organize collective experience activities. In particular, IT subjects must be taught in the afternoon, students must travel to the main location to study. If a boarding school can be built, it will help the school easily organize practical experience activities, contributing to the comprehensive development of knowledge, skills and qualities for students.

In Ia Mo commune, another difficulty is that students from far away villages have to go to school elsewhere, such as students from Ring village who have to go to Dak Lak province. Mr. Nguyen Van Toan, Party cell secretary and Head of Ring village, said that for more than 10 years, primary and secondary school students in the village have had to go to Dak Lak to study, 12 km away from home.

Dreams are about to come true

Not only Ia Mo, most of the highland communes of Gia Lai province lack schools, especially boarding schools.

Implementing the Government's direction, Gia Lai province is urgently implementing the construction of a boarding school system for 7 border communes, including Ia Mo, Ia Púch, Ia Nan, Ia Pnôn, Ia Dom, Ia Chia and Ia O.

According to the Department of Education and Training of Gia Lai province, there are currently 9,419 students studying in these 7 communes. The total investment cost for building 7 new inter-level boarding schools in the border communes is more than 1,211 billion VND.

Particularly in Ia Mo commune, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Vice Chairman of Ia Mo commune People's Committee, expressed his joy when the locality received budget allocation to build an inter-level boarding school. The local government has proposed that Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee reclaim the 6-hectare land of Irrigation Board 8 to promptly implement the project. Having a new, spacious school will meet the people's expectations.

"We have also considered solutions to promote the effectiveness of the boarding school after completion. We focus on training and fostering management staff, improving the quality of the teaching staff, promoting digital transformation and investing in modern equipment. In particular, the commune continues to coordinate the mobilization of social resources, maintaining models such as "Helping children go to school", "Adopted children of border guards" to support poor students, creating the best learning conditions for them" - Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh said.

According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Gia Lai province, information about 7 ethnic boarding schools in 7 border communes of the province will be simultaneously started on November 16, expected to be put into service from the 2026-2027 school year. Regarding the land, the land locations for the planned construction have been facilitated by relevant units.

"After completion, to ensure education at boarding schools, first of all, we must fully prepare facilities and teaching staff. Along with building the school, the department is also planning to advise on building additional policies to support boarding students, policies to care for the material and spiritual lives of teachers," Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung affirmed.

Pilot construction of 100 schools in 2025

Recently, on November 9, 17 localities simultaneously started construction of 72 inter-level general schools, opening a program to build 248 schools at the border. These 72 projects are on the list of 100 inter-level primary and secondary boarding schools to be invested in in 2025, to be completed before August 30, 2026. Previously, 28 schools were started and under construction.

The policy of investing in 248 schools in border communes was identified by the Politburo in Notice No. 81 dated July 18, 2025, considering this a key task in socio-economic development, improving people's knowledge, creating ethnic cadres and strengthening national defense and security. In the first phase, the Politburo allowed a pilot of 100 schools in 2025, to be completed no later than the 2026-2027 school year, as a model to be replicated throughout the next 2-3 years.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/dung-truong-xay-diem-tua-bien-cuong-196251115211439449.htm