Central schools proactively respond to floods

GD&TĐ - Floods have severely affected many schools along the central provinces from Quang Tri to Da Nang.

Schools have coordinated with local authorities to proactively develop teaching and learning plans, ensuring safety for teachers and students; and are ready to provide food and shelter for people in landslide areas...

Students temporarily stop going to class

Due to the impact of prolonged rain causing flooding in many localities, teaching activities in many schools in Quang Tri, Hue City and Da Nang City were temporarily interrupted.

Recorded in Vinh Dinh commune ( Quang Tri province), water rose and flooded school yards from 20 to 30cm. Currently, about 3,330 students from 10 schools in the area are off school. Specifically, in Hai Xuan commune (old) there are 484 students; Hai Vinh commune (old) 740 students; Hai Ba commune (old) 638 students; and some students in Hai Que, Hai Quy...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang Oanh - Principal of Hai Vinh Primary & Secondary School said that the school has 3 locations with 486 students. Currently, the water level in the school yard is about 30cm, not yet reaching the classrooms. However, in residential areas and traffic routes are deeply flooded, so all students of the school are absent from school to ensure safety.

Hai Ba Primary and Secondary School was also flooded 35-40cm deep. Mr. Hoang Dung - Principal, said: "The school has 3 locations, of which 2 primary schools were flooded 30-40cm deep. The whole school has 638 students at two levels. If the water does not recede in the next 1-2 days, the school may switch to online teaching."

In Dien Sanh commune, Thien Thanh Primary and Secondary Schools, Hai Truong Primary and Secondary Schools, and Hai Thanh Kindergarten were forced to let students stay home from school because heavy rain caused localized flooding.

The flooding situation is complicated in Nam Hai Lang commune. Currently, the village and hamlet roads are flooded from 1m to 1.5m deep. The inter-commune road Tan - Son - Hoa, Khe Muong road (DH 57), Xuan Loc - Tan Luong road (DH 58) are flooded from 0.5 - 0.7m. Hai Tan and Hai Hoa Kindergartens, Primary and Secondary Schools allow students to stay home.

An old facility of Bui Duc Tai High School (Nam Hai Lang commune) had its entire schoolyard flooded. Photo: Dang Duc

Mr. Truong Van Mau - Principal of Hai Hoa Primary and Secondary School, said: "The area is heavily flooded so students have been off school since Friday. Currently, the rising water level has flooded 4 schools. In the secondary school alone, the water has entered the classrooms about 40cm. It is forecasted that the flooding situation may last longer, so we have prepared a plan for online teaching."

In Da Nang City, about 55 out of 93 communes and wards and 38 high schools have allowed students to stay home from school on October 27; in Quang Phu Ward alone, students will stay home from school from October 28. Most of these are communes and wards in the former Quang Nam province.

In addition, in the old Da Nang city, some localities and areas such as Hoa Bac, Hoa Tien, Hoa Lien, Hoa Vang also proactively let students stay home from school to prevent floods. On October 29, students of schools in Hoa Xuan ward stayed home from school to ensure safety.

Schools in five mountainous communes of Da Nang City belonging to the former Nam Tra My district have been announced to be closed until October 29 to ensure safety.

Rising water at Hai Ba Primary and Secondary School (Vinh Dinh Commune) forced the school to let students stay home. Photo: Hoang Dung

Response work "one step ahead"

Many schools located in low-lying areas, often flooded, have raised the spirit of proactiveness and preparedness to ensure the safety of teachers and students, and minimize damage to facilities.

At Hai Vinh Primary and Secondary School, the water level was forecast to rise rapidly, so the school mobilized teachers to move facilities and teaching equipment to higher floors to avoid damage. Notably, realizing the flooding situation, the school proactively let students stay home to ensure safety.

Since the afternoon of October 27, Hai Ba Primary and Secondary School has mobilized male teachers to move teaching equipment, computers and documents to higher places. The school has always been proactive in responding to floods. Thanks to being proactive and "one step ahead", the damage has been minimized.

According to the leader of the Department of Culture and Society of Nam Hai Lang commune, since the morning of October 27, about 750 preschool children and more than 2,720 primary and secondary school students in the area have been absent from school due to flooding. The whole commune has 8 schools from preschool to secondary school and 1 high school, most of which were affected by rising water.

“To ensure the safety of students, teachers and staff, schools in deeply flooded areas have proactively allowed students to stay home. Schools have raised tables, chairs, equipment, teaching aids and cleaned classrooms to minimize damage caused by floods,” said the leader of Nam Hai Lang commune.

People take temporary shelter at Lang Luong school during the rainy and flood days to avoid landslides. Photo: Tra Thu

Many schools in the highlands of Da Nang City have become evacuation centers for people living in landslide-affected areas. Lang Luong School, part of Chu Van An Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Tra Tap Commune, Da Nang City) was chosen as a shelter for 16 households with 90 people.

Because there were only two classrooms and a teacher’s room, the youth union members of Tra Tap commune stretched tarps and built a roof to create more living space for the people during their temporary stay. Many teachers became coordinators, transporting food and necessities for volunteer groups to provide for the people.

Vo Nguyen Giap Ethnic Boarding Secondary School also became an evacuation point to avoid landslides for local people. The school handed over the kitchen area, provided food support... so that people could proactively organize collective cooking during the rainy and flood days.

Faced with the complicated developments of floods, the Department of Education and Training of localities affected by floods has empowered communes, wards and school leaders to proactively monitor the weather to decide on appropriate teaching and learning plans.

Accordingly, the Department requires schools to promptly inform and warn teachers, students, and parents to proactively prevent and minimize damage; at the same time, closely coordinate with local authorities and forces to organize the evacuation of students, officials, teachers, and staff to safe places before floods occur.

The top priority is to ensure absolute safety for students, staff, teachers and employees. At the same time, minimize damage to property, teaching equipment and school facilities.

The Da Nang Department of Education and Training requires ethnic boarding and semi-boarding schools not to allow students to return home during school holidays if safety is not guaranteed. Tra Linh Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Tra Van Commune, Da Nang City) kept 16 students in the boarding area during the school break to prevent storms. These are students who returned to school after the weekend before receiving the notice of school closure.

People use the kitchen of Vo Nguyen Giap Secondary School for Ethnic Minority Boarding Students to organize collective cooking during their temporary stay at the school. Photo: NTCC

Rapid response to support students in floods

Faced with the impact of prolonged heavy rains that have caused many low-lying areas in Hue City to be deeply flooded, member universities of Hue University have deployed plans to ensure safety and provide timely support to students.

The University of Education has a Huedu Rapid Response Team to support students in flooded areas, transporting non-resident students in low-lying areas to the school for safe accommodation. School staff and lecturers donated and purchased food, drinking water and essential necessities to send to students taking shelter in dormitories. On October 28, the Rapid Response Team continued to go to deeply flooded areas to support students who had not yet been able to move, providing them with more food, clean water and necessary items.

Hue University of Sciences recommends that students take proactive measures to avoid, move to safe places and keep in regular contact with friends and teachers for support when needed.

The University of Agriculture and Forestry has allowed students to take a break from classes from October 27 to ensure safety. At the same time, the school has arranged temporary accommodation for non-resident students who need to move into the school in meeting room 2, administrative building, fully prepared food, drinking water, generators and other necessities for daily life.

The University of Law - Hue University has set up a hotline, providing emergency phone numbers and contact information of the Police and People's Committee of An Cuu Ward, where many student dormitories are located, to provide timely support when needed. Some classrooms have been arranged as temporary shelters for students in deeply flooded areas or at risk of being unsafe.

Nguyen Van Manh, a third-year student at the University of Law - Hue University, said: “During the rainy and flood days, we always receive updated news from the school. When some of our friends' dormitories were flooded, we were supported and moved to a safe classroom area to avoid the flood. Now things are stable, waiting for the water to recede, my friends and I will return to the dormitories to clean up, preparing to return to class when notified.”

The Youth Union of Dong A University (Da Nang) organized the cooking of 600 meals including porridge, egg bread and milk at the school's standard kitchen practice area and sent them to patients being treated and stuck at Quang Nam Regional General Hospital during the rainy and flooded days.

The SOS Team of Dong A University has been activated with the following plans: Supporting students and people in deeply flooded areas to pack their belongings and move to safe shelters, "rescuing" motorbikes for people in difficult circumstances in heavily flooded areas and students after heavy rains, and receiving rescue information via the team's hotline.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/truong-hoc-mien-trung-chu-dong-bon-tai-cho-ung-pho-mua-lu-post754439.html