Con Cuong Boarding School is still "living off others"

Cramped scene in dormitory room, no place to put books, students have to put them on the ventilation window

Temporary until when?

At a time when the whole country is bustling towards the celebration of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, we were present at Con Cuong Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities as the school is also preparing for its 10th anniversary this November. However, more than a decade has passed, but teachers and students of the school still have to "borrow" teaching and learning locations and dormitories for the students. Principal Lo Van Thiep said: "In 2013, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued a decision to establish Con Cuong Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, located in Bong Khe commune. This is a school for children of ethnic minorities in remote, isolated and extremely disadvantaged areas of Con Cuong mountainous district. At the time of establishment, due to lack of facilities, the school had to borrow the old facility of Bong Khe Secondary School (Thanh Nam village, Bong Khe commune) for teaching and the cultural house yard of Thanh Nam village to organize sports activities for students.

After teaching for 5 years, in August 2018, floods on floods caused the school on the banks of the Lam River to be severely flooded. At the peak of the flood, the river water rose above the roof of the dormitory, forcing teachers and students to evacuate quickly; many assets, teaching equipment, and household items were swept away or damaged by floodwaters. To ensure the safety of students and teachers, the Con Cuong district government decided to temporarily borrow the Nghe An Ethnic Boarding Vocational College as a place to teach and learn, while the dormitory for students was borrowed from the district's Continuing Education and Vocational Training Center.

The 2023-2024 school year is also the 10th year that teachers and students have to endure a life of hardship and makeshift living. The Vocational College lends a two-story building to use as classrooms; the principal and accountant share a room of less than 15 square ^meters ; another room of similar size is arranged as a waiting room for teachers. In addition, there are no functional classrooms, practice rooms, or laboratories. Because of "living off others", the school cannot proactively purchase facilities, equipment, test tubes, and chemicals because there is no safe place to store them; teachers mainly introduce experiments to students through simulation clips, which puts them at a disadvantage and affects the quality of teaching and learning. Not only is there a lack of classrooms, the campus for organizing flag salutes, experiential activities, sports, etc. is also extremely limited.

The corner of the stairs from the first floor to the second floor was converted by the school into a medical room, library, equipment room, and team room. In the cramped, dimly lit room, every empty space is used to store documents, desks, chairs, and even chemical experiment equipment. Ms. Tran Thi Anh Nguyet, a school medical staff, said: “It is impossible to describe all the disadvantages for ethnic minority students studying here. They come from remote villages to the district to study, but the makeshift facilities cannot ensure their safety. This is the sadness and concern of all of us. This year, the accommodation has been able to add single beds, but in previous years there was no space to put beds. Everything is too lacking, the desire of our teachers and students for many years is to have a proper school.”

The yard is used as a dining room, evening study area and communal living area.

No guarantee of learning quality

According to Principal Lo Van Thiep, this school year, the Con Cuong District Boarding Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities has 385 students staying in a dormitory borrowed from the district's Continuing Education and Vocational Training Center, about 1 km from the school. All students are crowded into 10 dormitories (5 for boys and 5 for girls). Male students live in an old row of level 4 houses with peeling walls. Female students are given priority in a new row of rooms, but they are built entirely of corrugated iron. Winters are bitterly cold, summers are hot and stuffy when each room has up to 40 students. In the room, there are two rows of bunk beds, with only a small space in the middle left as a walkway. The students' books are placed on the ventilation holes; personal belongings are hung on the wall or put in aluminum chests and pushed under the beds or wherever possible. Because it is a boarding school, except for the two days off each month to go home, the rest of the time the students have to stay in this space, not allowed to go out, so it is very stuffy and stuffy. In recent years, the school has not dared to recruit enough students because the facilities do not meet the accommodation requirements for students. This year, the target for grade 6 is 105 students, but the school only recruited 96 students.

In 2016, the People's Committee of Nghe An province approved the investment project to build Con Cuong Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities. The project includes items such as classrooms, dormitories, dining halls, gymnasiums, and principal offices, with a total investment of 45 billion VND. The construction site is in Tra Bong village, Bong Khe commune. The project was assigned to the Con Cuong District Project Management Board for implementation within 3 years from the commencement date. However, the project has not yet been implemented. Explaining this issue, Mr. Vi Van Quy, Vice Chairman of the Con Cuong District People's Committee, said that the project was initially approved but lacked capital. After the capital was available, the cost of site clearance increased, so the old project had to be canceled to survey and establish a new project. That is the reason why the school has not yet been built. On the other hand, this location is not large enough, so the Con Cuong District People's Committee has proposed choosing another location. To date, the project has increased its capital to 85 billion VND and was approved at the end of October 2023. It is expected that the school will start construction at the end of 2023 or early 2024 and be completed after 2 years of construction.

PHAM NGAN

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