Teachers and students overcome floods and difficulties

TP - Less than a month to go until the new school year begins, however, some educational institutions in Nghe An, Dien Bien, and Son La have been severely affected by floods and storms, unable to recover in time to organize the opening ceremony.

Go with the flow

Mr. Tran Sy Ha, Principal of My Ly 2 Primary Boarding School (Western Nghe An) shared that after the historic flood on the night of July 22, all the efforts of the locality and benefactors were washed away by the water. The road to the school is still isolated, the mud and dirt in the school yard cannot be cleaned because we have to wait for the excavator. Mr. Ha said that the school campus was buried in mud about 3m-5m thick, the second floor was about 1.3m thick.

Mr. Ha informed that no one in the school thought that the school would be flooded so deeply. When the rain poured down, after a short time, water flooded the student cafeteria, the school yard, and the first and second floors. Four teachers left their family work to go to school to "run" to the flood of important documents and books. By the time they were able to move their belongings to the second floor, the first floor was already up to their necks in water, it was dark, the power was out, and the teachers groped their way through the water to get out.

“That day was truly a “red day” for the school and fortunately for the teachers because there were no casualties. Every time we talk about it, we cry,” said Mr. Ha. When the flood receded, Mr. Ha spent a day and a half trekking through the forest to see the school in ruins, buried in mud, and all property swept away.

According to the report of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An , due to the impact of storm No. 3, from July 22 to 26, there was heavy rain, some places had very heavy rain, causing flash floods, landslides in high mountainous areas...

Some schools, school sites, staff and teachers' houses were deeply submerged in floodwaters; assets, equipment, tables and chairs, toys, computers, etc. were submerged and swept away by the flood. According to statistics, the floods caused 15 schools to be deeply submerged in water, including the classrooms of My Ly 2 Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, which were completely destroyed by floodwaters; 25 schools had school sites that were flooded; 13 schools had landslides, roofs blown off, houses collapsed, and banks collapsed.

The flood caused landslides of rocks and mud, burying an estimated 20,000 cubic meters of schools, requiring a large workforce and many days of work to complete. According to statistics, 527 families of administrators, teachers, and employees working in the education sector were affected, of which 41 families had their houses collapsed or were swept away by water; 486 families had their houses flooded and their property washed away.

Not in time for the new school year

Mr. Tran Sy Ha shared that My Ly 2 Primary Boarding School has 24 teachers. Of these, 10 teachers' families were affected (7 teachers' families' houses were swept away by flood, 3 teachers' families' houses collapsed). "The roads are still cut off, although I know the teachers' families suffered heavy losses, I still cannot go there to visit and encourage them," said Mr. Ha.

Talking about the plan for the upcoming new school year, Mr. Tran Sy Ha affirmed that the school will hardly be able to overcome the consequences of the flood before the new school year. Therefore, the school has proposed two options for the first phase of the school year. First, organize the opening ceremony at the commune's cultural house. In the three villages near the school, students will study at the commune's cultural house, in the three villages across the river, teachers will teach at the village cultural houses in each village. Option 2 is to gather students to study at two locations on both sides of the river and still open the new school year at the commune's cultural house.

Mr. Ha added that yesterday, the management agencies came to survey the location to build the school in a new place. Teachers and students of the school will have a school in another location in the near future.

My Ly 2 Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities was submerged 3-5m deep in mud. Photo: SY HA

Ms. Hoang Tuyet Ban, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Dien Bien, informed that heavy rain has caused damage to people and property in some communes.

In Muong Luan commune, Pa Vat kindergarten (Pa Vat 1 village), Luan Gioi kindergarten, and Chieng So secondary school for ethnic minorities were severely affected. In Na Son commune, Na Phat kindergarten (Bang Choc school) was flooded up to 3m high, causing damage to facilities and teaching equipment.

In Xa Dung commune, Suoi Lu Kindergarten was flooded by stream water, causing damage to all classrooms, toilets, and the school yard. According to Ms. Tuyet Ban, the province had 9 students killed by the flood. Of which, Tia Dinh commune had 3 students and Xa Dung commune had 6 students.

Immediately after the natural disaster, the Department of Education and Training directed educational institutions to urgently visit and encourage, overcome natural disaster damage, and ensure the safety of human life, facilities, and teaching equipment.

Mr. Tran Sy Ha, Principal of My Ly 2 Primary Boarding School (Western Nghe An) shared that at present, the school has received many clothes, books, and school supplies from benefactors and philanthropists. He informed the people in the commune that this year students do not have to buy textbooks and school supplies like every year so that people can rest assured to overcome the consequences of this historic flood.

In Son La, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Quang Van Lam said that in the area where the Ma River flows, there are 27 kindergartens, 50 primary and secondary schools, 8 boarding schools, high schools, and continuing education schools.

The main schools in the communes are basically safe, only some separate preschools in the communes of Chieng So, Muong Lam, Bo Sinh and Chieng Khuong were affected by landslides, mud entering classrooms, some auxiliary works (fences, electricity and water supply systems... damaged) and some equipment and school supplies.

In particular, in Bo Sinh commune, 2 villages/186 households were isolated due to the collapse of the bridge over the river, making it difficult to access. The immediate solution proposed was for the commune People's Committee and the people to build rafts to run along the river to transport students to school and people to travel for daily activities.

Don't let students lack books

Publishers have plans to ensure enough textbooks for students in flood-affected areas before the new school year 2025-2026 begins.

A representative of the Vietnam Education Publishing House (VEP) said that in the 2025-2026 school year, the publishing house will print 160.8 million textbooks, of which about 2-3% of the output is reserved for use in case of unexpected events, natural disasters, storms and floods... The Vietnam Education Publishing House has completed 100% of the printing and warehousing work and is actively and urgently organizing the supply of textbooks to localities.

Up to now, the Publishing House has supplied 158.4 million textbooks (reaching 98.5% of the plan), ensuring to meet market demand, fully and promptly supplying textbooks to students and teachers nationwide before the new school year begins. Currently, the Publishing House is waiting for statistics from Son La and Dien Bien to donate textbooks to students affected by the recent floods.

A representative of Vietnam Education Publishing and Equipment Investment Joint Stock Company (the publisher of Canh Dieu textbooks) also said that by July 31, the unit had printed and stocked 95% of the 2025 plan. This included a sufficient reserve to supplement areas of natural disasters and floods.

Three sets of textbooks have been selected by high schools nationwide for teaching in the 2025-2026 school year: Connecting Knowledge; Creative Horizon; Canh Dieu. These sets of books are published and distributed by Vietnam Education Publishing House, Hanoi National University of Education Publishing House, and Ho Chi Minh City National University of Education Publishing House.

Publishers confirm that they will provide enough textbooks for the new school year 2025 - 2026. Photo: Hong Vinh

To ensure textbooks for students and teachers in the new school year 2025-2026, the Department of Education and Training of Son La has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue leadership documents and direct the completion of textbook selection; coordinate with publishers and copyright owners to provide enough textbooks for teachers and students.

This year, the Department has prepared textbook distribution very early. Since February, the Department has organized a conference on textbook distribution; requested publishers and copyright owners to direct and organize implementation to ensure timely supply, avoiding delays, shortages, and asynchronous textbooks for general education institutions, teachers, and students in the province. The Department has compiled the number of students by grade from educational institutions, and sent them to the publishers and authorized book distribution units to carefully prepare the quantity of each book for each agent by region.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/thay-tro-vuot-lu-vuot-kho-post1766722.tpo