Groundbreaking ceremony of 72 inter-level boarding schools in border communes

GD&TĐ - The groundbreaking ceremony for 72 primary and secondary boarding schools took place on the morning of November 9 in 17 provinces and cities.

Prepare carefully for special events

Implementing the direction of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on organizing the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of primary and secondary boarding schools in the land border communes, the Ministry of Education and Training presided over and coordinated with Vietnam Television, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group and 17 land border provinces and cities to organize the groundbreaking ceremony simultaneously on November 9, 2025 in both in-person and online forms.

The program was broadcast live on VTV1 channel of Vietnam Television from 9:00 to 10:30, connecting 14 points in 14 provinces and cities and online points from other inter-level boarding schools in border provinces.

According to the program, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and directed the groundbreaking ceremony at the central bridge in Thanh Hoa province. Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh attended and directed at the Ha Tinh bridge (also attended by Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang); Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son attended and directed at the An Giang bridge;

Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long attended and directed at Dien Bien bridge; Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc attended and directed at Lam Dong bridge; Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung attended and directed at Tuyen Quang bridge; Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha attended and directed at Lang Son bridge; Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh attended and directed at Dak Lak bridge; Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra attended and directed at Lao Cai bridge;

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son attended and directed at Lai Chau bridge; Minister of Ethnic Minorities and Religions Dao Ngoc Dung attended and directed at Son La bridge; Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang attended and directed at Quang Tri bridge; Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh attended and directed at Cao Bang bridge; Senior Lieutenant General Pham The Tung, Deputy Minister of Public Security attended and directed at Nghe An bridge.

At the ceremony, construction will start simultaneously on 72 schools in the list of 100 primary and secondary boarding schools invested in 2025, to be completed before August 30, 2026.

In the context of complicated weather developments due to the impact of Storm No. 13, localities such as Da Nang, Quang Ngai, and Gia Lai may not be able to organize a direct groundbreaking ceremony, but will still connect online and be ready to start construction on-site as soon as conditions permit, ensuring absolute safety for people and vehicles.

Previously, implementing the Prime Minister's direction, the Ministry of Education and Training urgently coordinated with ministries, branches and border provinces and cities to prepare the necessary conditions to organize the groundbreaking ceremony. The Ministry of Education and Training issued a plan and specific instructions for 17 border provinces and cities; organized many meetings to unify the plan, assign tasks; completed the plan to submit to the Prime Minister to assign Government leaders, Ministers and Government members to attend the groundbreaking ceremony and give instructions at the bridge points.

Vietnam Television has prepared the program script, live broadcast plan and reports for the groundbreaking ceremony. VNPT Group has coordinated to deploy transmission lines, install technical equipment, and ensure stable, safe and uninterrupted signals.

Localities have proactively developed plans, established provincial organizing committees, assigned leaders to be in charge of each bridge point, fully prepared facilities, premises, propaganda work and ensured security and safety. Plans for transportation, healthcare, fire prevention and fighting, natural disaster response, and security and safety have all been deployed and completed.

Urgent need to build boarding schools in land border communes

According to statistics, the whole country has 956 general schools in 248 land border communes. Of these, there are only about 22 ethnic boarding general schools with a scale of 7,644 students (accounting for only 2.3% of the total number of schools and 1.2% of the general students in the area enjoying the State's boarding policy); there are about 160 ethnic boarding general schools with a scale of 51,131 students (accounting for about 16.7% of the total number of schools and 8.18% of the total number of general students in the land border communes enjoying the State's boarding policy).

Of the total 625,255 students in the border communes, the number of students who are not eligible to study at ethnic boarding schools or semi-boarding schools but have the need to be boarders or semi-boarders is about 273,244 students (accounting for 43.7% of the total current number of high school students). Thus, the number of students with the need to be boarders or semi-boarders in the border communes accounts for a very high proportion.

In addition, the physical conditions of schools in border communes are still very difficult and lacking, not meeting the minimum requirements, not ensuring the needs of boarding and semi-boarding students; the teaching staff is still lacking and not properly arranged, greatly affecting the quality of education, leading to inequity in education.

To improve the quality of education, narrow the regional gap, and create a source of quality cadres in border areas to meet the requirements of national development in the new period, the Ministry of Education and Training has reported and proposed to the Party and State leaders, headed by General Secretary To Lam, the policy of building boarding schools for students in remote, border, and island areas, especially in mainland border communes.

Scale, scope and investment capital

According to the Conclusion Notice No. 81-TB/TW dated July 18, 2025 of the Politburo on the policy of investing in building schools for border communes and Resolution No. 298/NQ-CP dated September 26, 2025 of the Government promulgating the Government's Action Plan to implement Conclusion Notice 81-TB/TW, the whole country has 248 land border communes planned to invest in 248 inter-level primary and secondary boarding schools.

Of these, 100 schools were selected for phase 1 construction investment, with a total investment capital requirement of nearly 20,000 billion VND. The Ministry of Finance was assigned to allocate and manage capital sources; localities directly implemented construction investment according to specific mechanisms, ensuring progress, quality and efficiency in using state capital.

The schools that started construction simultaneously on November 9, 2025 are all on the list of 100 schools approved by the Government for investment in 2025, expected to be completed and put into use before the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

In parallel with public investment capital, the Ministry of Education and Training was assigned to coordinate with the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and member organizations to launch the program "The whole country joins hands to build schools for border communes" and the movement "All for beloved border students" to mobilize the strength of solidarity of the entire people, businesses, organizations, and individuals at home and abroad to contribute to building, maintaining and developing a sustainable school system in border areas.

Model fields and extension orientation

The Ministry of Construction has designed the model of inter-level boarding schools to ensure technical standards, scale, and classroom area; a synchronous, modern, sustainable, and safe system of facilities; and to meet the highest current standards of general school facilities.

Each school is arranged with a study area, a dormitory, a dining hall, a cultural and sports area, a library, subject classrooms, and a teachers' dormitory, ensuring comprehensive conditions for study, living, and training.

The Ministry of Education and Training has identified this as a new school model, not a "compressed school" or a "dispersed school", but a modern, synchronous model, combining flexible boarding and semi-boarding policies, suitable for the terrain conditions and circumstances of students in border areas.

The first 100 schools to be started in 2025 are identified as “model schools”, ensuring both advanced facilities and being models in educational organization, management and operation.

Schools are built to comprehensively develop students in terms of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics, with spaces for study, sports, music, fine arts, career guidance, and cultural development, while ensuring adequate boarding and boarding accommodation conditions.

This is the first step towards completing 248 schools in the 2025-2028 period, contributing to gradually eliminating regional gaps and creating a sustainable knowledge belt in the border areas.

Policy on teachers and students in border areas

Along with the construction of inter-level boarding schools in land border communes, the Ministry of Education and Training is coordinating with ministries, branches and localities to research and develop specific policies to arrange, train, attract and retain a team of competent and dedicated teachers to meet the educational requirements of border areas.

The policies are expected to be issued before the 2026–2027 school year, in sync with the completion of construction projects.

For students in border areas, they will study and live in a modern, safe, fully-equipped environment, with the State ensuring accommodation, training and capacity development. The goal is to ensure fairness in access to education, improve people's knowledge, train local human resources, and contribute to sustainable development in border areas.

The program to build 100 inter-level boarding schools in border communes (phase 1, 2025 - 2026) under the investment policy to complete the construction of 248 schools in border communes) is a key and important task, concretizing the policy of the Politburo and the Government on developing education in disadvantaged areas, narrowing the regional gap, creating equality in access to education and contributing to strengthening social security, developing the economy - society and maintaining national security and defense in border areas. The total investment cost for building 100 schools is nearly 20,000 billion VND.

The simultaneous groundbreaking ceremony of 72 projects, with the participation of leaders of the Government, ministries, branches and localities, demonstrates the spirit of close coordination and high determination of the entire political system in caring for students in border areas, fully preparing the conditions to soon complete the investment of 100 schools before the 2026-2027 school year.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/le-khoi-cong-dong-loat-72-truong-noi-tru-lien-cap-tai-cac-xa-bien-gioi-post755932.html