Nghe An Department of Education and Training urgently directed the case of 140 students dropping out of school after school merger

On the afternoon of September 11th, in an exchange with a VietNamNet reporter, the leader of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province stated that, as of this morning, 140 students from Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School (Thien Nhan commune) had not yet attended classes to protest the school merger. In response to this situation, the Department has issued a document temporarily suspending the merger of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School.

According to a representative from the Nghe An Provincial Department of Education and Training, the merger has been temporarily suspended to allow for better preparation of facilities and infrastructure to ensure students can attend school. "The school merger is in line with the policy, however, we have to temporarily halt it and continue to educate and persuade parents to agree," said a leader from the Nghe An Department of Education and Training.

According to the leaders of the Nghe An Provincial Department of Education and Training, parents are protesting the school merger because they believe the main school is far from their homes, posing a safety risk to students. However, in reality, the school is only about 1.5km from the students' homes.

Parents keep their children home from school to protest the school merger. Photo: T. Luong

"Every parent wants their child to attend school near home; however, the facilities at the satellite school cannot be as good as those at the main school. For students, the immediate benefit is being able to attend school nearby, but in the long run, studying at the main school will be better. We will continue to advocate so that parents understand the long-term benefits for their children studying at the main school."

"Having many scattered school locations close together makes investing in and arranging facilities much more difficult compared to merging them," the leader of the Nghe An Provincial Department of Education and Training further informed.

Over the past three days, hundreds of parents brought their children to Branch 2 of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School in Thien Nhan commune (Nghe An province) to request that the local authorities and the school reopen the school for their children to attend classes. The parents are protesting the merger of Branch 2 (the outlying branch) with Branch 1 (the main branch) of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School.

Main features of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School. Photo: T. Luong

Hundreds of parents have submitted petitions to the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Education and Training, the Thien Nhan commune government, and the school's management board, expressing their concerns about sending their children to school.

Mr. Vo Dinh Dong (75 years old) said that the students are still young and need to be taken to and from school by their parents or grandparents. However, the parents are working far away, and the elderly grandparents do not have time to take the children to school.

"Our wish is to keep this school location to ensure the safety of the children. The road from the old Nam Phuc commune to branch 1 has a four-way intersection with many trucks, and traffic accidents frequently occur, so the children passing through pose many risks. We are not at ease with the children going to school via this road," Mr. Dong said.

Ms. Le Thi Lan, Principal of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School, said that after the opening ceremony, many students in remote areas have been absent from school in recent days. Specifically, on the morning of September 10th, 136 out of 196 students were absent. For the 2025-2026 school year, Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School will have 19 classrooms with 670 students.

According to Ms. Lan, the distance between the two schools is only about 1km, which is convenient for students and teachers to travel to and from.

"The school has 29 teachers and staff members. If we split the teaching into two locations, we won't have enough time, teaching will be scattered, and the timetables will overlap," said the principal of Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School.

According to the leaders of Thien Nhan Commune People's Committee, the signing of the notice regarding the merger of the outlying school branches into the main school was based on the conclusions of the Standing Committee of the Commune Party Committee, aiming to improve the quality of teaching and learning, concentrate investment, and effectively utilize resources so that students can study in a centralized environment with better equipment and facilities.

The names of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang Specialized High Schools will remain unchanged after the merger . Bac Ninh Specialized High School and Bac Giang Specialized High School will retain their names as they were before the provincial merger, instead of being renamed Bac Ninh Specialized High School No. 1 and No. 2.

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