Tien Phong – difficulties before the new school year

Traffic is fragmented, travel is too difficult; lack of teachers locally, lack of classrooms, having to go to other places to study, inadequate policies for teachers and students... are the challenges facing education in Tien Phong - one of the most difficult communes in the province. Only a few days left until the new school year begins, but there are still too many problems and worries.

Road traffic is cut off, many students in Tien Phong commune have to go to school by river.

Most of the teachers teaching at schools in the mountainous commune of Tien Phong live in Da Bac commune (formerly Da Bac town). The nearest school is about 20km away from home, the farthest is 40km. There is no official housing, many teachers have small children so they have to go to school in the morning and come back in the evening. It is worth mentioning that the daily route for teachers to school belongs to the project to upgrade the inter-commune road Vay Nua (now Da Bac commune) - Tien Phong, 24km long, which started construction at the end of 2022 and is still unfinished. On the positive slopes are mounds of earth and rocks jutting out precariously on the high mountainside like a trap for passersby. On the negative slopes, the old roadbed is deeply gouged, at risk of collapsing. After the torrential rains of storm No. 5, the road to school for teachers and students in schools in Tien Phong commune is even more dangerous. The extremely difficult traffic is one of the main reasons why Tien Phong has not been able to recruit teachers for many years.

Sharing about the shortage of teachers in the commune, Mr. Do Duc Thanh, Vice Chairman of Tien Phong Commune People's Committee, said: In the commune, there are 05 kindergartens and general schools with 58 classes and 1,039 students. The total number of cadres, teachers and staff at all 3 levels is 138 people, of which 12% of teachers are not qualified. The whole commune is lacking 24 teachers and staff. The most worrying thing is the lack of secondary school teachers in Math, Literature and English. Tien Phong Secondary Ethnic Minority High School has 6 classes but only 1 Math teacher, 1 Literature teacher; Vay Nua Secondary Ethnic Minority High School has 5 secondary school classes but only 1 Literature teacher. The shortage of teachers has greatly affected the quality of teaching and learning in schools.

Along with the lack of teachers, the problem of facilities is also a challenge for Tien Phong education . The whole commune has 65 classrooms, of which only 96.92% are solid classrooms. The facilities of some schools are still facing many difficulties, especially at the remote schools, lacking classrooms for subjects according to the new curriculum, many teaching equipment are damaged and degraded due to long-term investment; the fence system and auxiliary works of some schools are degraded and collapsed due to storms. In particular, the Sang Bo school of Vay Nua Kindergarten was eroded and damaged by storm No. 3 and has not been repaired or rebuilt. The distance from Sang Bo to the main school is 20km of winding and degraded mountain roads, so currently there are 3 groups of classes having to study at the hamlet Cultural House. Besides the lack of classrooms, the kindergartens are seriously lacking books and library equipment. Classroom teaching equipment, outdoor equipment and toys are lacking and degraded.

Teachers at Vay Nua Kindergarten use available materials such as bamboo, palm leaves... to make tools and toys for students.

In addition, the operation of the boarding school at Tien Phong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities and Vay Nua Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities has been very difficult. Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Danh Dinh, Principal of Vay Nua Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, said: The school has 20 classes with 388 students, 100% of the school's students are ethnic minorities, of which more than 60% are Dao students. Currently, the school has about 100 boarding students. Unlike boarding schools in the lowlands, where students eat lunch and only stay at school at noon, boarding students in mountainous schools, especially difficult areas like ours, stay at school all week like boarding students because their houses are 20km away from school and transportation is difficult. However, currently, students are only supported with 936,000 VND per month, but the school still has to arrange for 3 meals a day, and provide them with electricity and water. Students in boarding schools will be supported with 80% of the basic salary per month (currently equivalent to 1,872,000 VND); provided with personal items and school supplies, rewards, and transportation expenses. In reality, the school still has to arrange and assign teachers to do student management work, closely manage all daily activities of students like boarding school students, but the allowance for teachers is not the same as boarding school students. In reality, there have been and are problems arising in such policies, and we hope that the relevant agencies will pay attention and resolve them.

Only a few days left until the new school year begins, but difficulties are still piling up for education in the Tien Phong Lake commune. Located nearly 130 km away from the new provincial center, teachers, students and people of Tien Phong commune hope that the difficulties of the locality will be taken care of and gradually resolved so that literacy in the highlands will be less difficult and education in the highlands will gradually approach that of the favorable areas.

Willow

Source: https://baophutho.vn/tien-phong--nhung-kho-khan-truoc-them-nam-hoc-moi-238839.htm