Reorganizing and merging public educational institutions: Creating a better learning environment

GD&TĐ - The plan to arrange and merge public educational institutions, including schools and school sites within the commune level, with priority given to retaining schools with favorable conditions... is built by localities on the basis of not reducing the opportunities to access education for students at all levels.

Ensuring safety and convenience for students

Tan Uyen Commune ( Lai Chau Province) was formed on the basis of merging 4 communes: Trung Dong, Than Thuoc, Nam Can and Tan Uyen town. There are currently 15 schools in the commune with many separate schools. Mr. Lo Van Thi - Head of the Department of Culture and Society of Tan Uyen Commune, said: "The commune has surveyed and proposed to keep the status quo of schools on the basis of 4 old communes. The commune has just merged but the distance between schools is quite far, merging schools together will face difficulties in management work".

Similarly, the mountainous commune of Muong Te (Lai Chau province) currently has 7 educational institutions, including 2 primary and secondary schools. Mr. Truong Quoc Hoan - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong Te commune, shared: "For schools and school locations with conditions, we have previously merged. As for preschool level, with many separate schools located far away, it is not possible to merge schools or schools together."

In the border commune of Mu Ca, Lai Chau province, there are 3 educational establishments. According to Mr. Ha Dinh Nhuan - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Mu Ca commune, the 11 schools of Mu Ca Kindergarten will not be merged due to the long distance.

Mu Ca Primary School currently has only 2 schools. In 2026, the commune will build a boarding school for primary and secondary levels with a capacity of more than 600 students. Therefore, the 2 schools Mu Ca Primary Ethnic Minority High School and Mu Ca Secondary Ethnic Minority High School are expected to merge in the 2027-2028 school year when the inter-level school comes into operation.

Mr. Tong Thanh Hai - Standing Vice Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee, said: In the coming time, along with the construction of inter-level primary and secondary boarding schools in 11 border communes, with a scale of over 1,000 students, the adjustment and rearrangement of educational facilities, teaching staff, and enrollment will soon be reviewed and implemented. When the inter-level school comes into operation, reducing the number of schools and satellite schools will create conditions to improve the comprehensive education quality of the locality.

Also according to Mr. Tong Thanh Hai, Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee has just proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training consider continuing to invest in schools in other particularly difficult areas of the province such as the inter-level school model in border communes. At that time, the rearrangement of schools and school locations needs a specific and clear roadmap.

Class time of students at Nam Ban Primary Boarding School, Pa Tan Commune (Lai Chau Province). Photo: Ha Thuan

Flexible, suitable for reality

Ms. Tran Thi Thuy Ha - Head of the Department of Culture and Society of Hoa Xuan Ward (Da Nang City), said that in the arrangement and merger of public educational institutions, including the merger of schools and school points within the commune level, it is necessary to meet requirements such as creating fairness in educational enjoyment, convenience for students and aiming at investing in systematic schools and classrooms, improving teaching and learning conditions.

Therefore, Hoa Xuan ward both separated and merged schools. For preschool level, no merger was carried out but only rearranged the separate facilities. Some separate schools were brought to the main facility to streamline the network, ensuring better teaching and learning conditions. “We only merged facilities, not separated or merged schools. For example, Huong Sen Kindergarten used to have 4 locations, now it has 3; Hoa Phuoc Kindergarten has gone from 5 locations to 3,” said Ms. Ha.

According to Ms. Ha, the reason for this merger is that some schools are too close together, the number of students is small, while many schools are degraded, the facilities no longer meet the requirements. In addition, the traffic is now more convenient, so parents tend to want to bring their children to study at the main school - where there are better learning conditions, spacious classrooms, and full equipment.

For primary and secondary schools, Hoa Xuan ward has just proposed both school separation and school merger plans, depending on the population characteristics of each area. For example, in the Hoa Xuan - Hoa Chau - Hoa Phuoc area, the area is large but the population is unevenly distributed. The young population is mainly concentrated in Hoa Xuan, causing the number of classes here to increase rapidly, while some other areas have few students. Therefore, the reorganization of the school and class network needs to be carefully calculated to both suit the planning and meet the actual learning needs of the people.

According to the plan to arrange the school and class network, the locality plans to consolidate a number of small-scale schools with few students to streamline the system and improve management efficiency. For example, in the old Hoa Phuoc and Hoa Chau communes, the option of merging schools at the primary level will be considered. It is expected that after the arrangement, there will be one school with two main and secondary schools, both ensuring learning needs and being suitable for the actual student population in the area.

“The merger aims to overcome the situation of many small, scattered schools, while the number of students decreases. When consolidated, the scale of the schools will be more reasonable, and teaching and learning conditions will also be improved,” Ms. Ha analyzed.

In addition to merging, Hoa Xuan ward must consider the option of separating schools for facilities that are too large. For example, Tran Dai Nghia Primary School currently has 73 classes, and is expected to add three more classes each year.

Similarly, at the secondary level, Nguyen Thien Thuat School has 71 classes, expected to increase to 81 classes next year, while Tran Van Du School also has 46 classes. If it continues to expand, the scale will exceed the regulations and it will be difficult to ensure management. To reduce the load, it is possible to establish an inter-level school on the basis of merging the second campus of the two schools above.

A school campus of Chan Nua Kindergarten, Le Loi commune (Lai Chau province). Photo: Ha Thuan

Build a suitable roadmap

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lich - Vice Chairman of Lien Chieu Ward People's Committee (Da Nang City), said: At the preschool level, the ward has merged OneSky - Da Nang Preschool Care and Education Center into a facility of Son Ca Kindergarten. After the merger, this is the largest public preschool in the area with nearly 800 children. Each facility will have a manager in charge.

“In addition, the ward has not considered merging educational facilities because the current primary and secondary schools have a larger number of classes than the regulations. In the roadmap for developing a plan to organize teaching and learning 2 sessions/day at the secondary level, according to calculations, the ward needs at least 60 more classrooms, equivalent to building about 2 new secondary schools. We are proposing to build at least 1 new primary school and 1 new secondary school in the area to reduce the number of students/class as well as the number of classes/school,” Mr. Lich informed.

Meanwhile, Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Van, Head of the Department of Culture and Society of Dien Ban Dong Ward (Da Nang City), said that with the characteristics of the ward’s kindergartens, it is difficult to merge the separate schools. “From one school to another is about 5-7km, it is impossible to eliminate the separate schools to transfer children to the main school for care and study, even though the schools are all small in scale.

We are considering merging small-scale kindergartens together and maintaining the current campuses to reduce the number of management points. Campuses close to the main campus will mobilize parents to transfer to the main campus,” Ms. Van proposed.

Mr. Ngo Thuc Dung - Chairman of Hai Van Ward (Da Nang City), said: "In one ward, schools are located in areas with different socio-economic conditions as well as natural conditions. One side is adjacent to the sea, the other side is mountainous, so the school merger plan needs to be calculated based on the convenience of travel for students and parents."

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/sap-xep-sap-nhap-cac-co-so-giao-duc-cong-lap-tao-moi-truong-hoc-tap-tot-hon-post753554.html