From destroying "ignorance" to conquering knowledge

The education and training career of our province has overcome many difficulties and challenges, from the early days of shortages, but with the care, attention and investment of the Party, the State and the province, together with the dedication and love for the profession of the staff and teachers, many important achievements have been achieved, creating a solid foundation for development and a steady step forward in the future.

The provincial Ethnic Minority High School was built spaciously.

Competition to eradicate illiteracy

After the historic Dien Bien Phu victory, in the period of 1954-1959, our country entered the process of building socialism in the North with numerous difficulties. At that time, the Thai Meo Autonomous Region had 99% of illiterate ethnic minorities. Our Party determined: Developing education in mountainous areas is a key task, aiming to help the highlands catch up with the lowlands.

In 1959, responding to the call of the Party and Uncle Ho, more than 860 teachers from the Northern Delta and midland provinces volunteered to go to the Northwest to teach. This began a difficult but also proud journey of the "59 teachers".

Nearly 70 years have passed, but the memories of the first days coming to the Northwest are still a sacred part of the memories of many teachers. Teacher Vu Dinh Nhuan, at that time a young man in his twenties, with an optimistic and enthusiastic spirit, shared: We, young teachers from the lowlands, ate, lived, and worked with the locals to cut bamboo to build huts and make tables and chairs for teaching. In those simple temporary classrooms, teachers and students studied together, teachers taught students the national language, students taught teachers Thai and Muong languages. Each season when the fields bore corn and sowed seeds, the classes became more connected and stable. In addition to teaching literacy, the teachers also guided students on how to grow potatoes and cassava, increasing production.

Class time at the smart classroom of Le Quy Don Secondary School, To Hieu ward.

When the country was completely unified, our Party continued to persevere with the policy of "Exercising all efforts to care for and develop education in mountainous areas". From here, the school system was expanded, secondary schools were established in many lowland communes, towns, and farms along the main traffic routes. High schools developed in almost all district capitals. Along with the expansion of schools and classes, enthusiastic emulation movements, such as "Two Good", "Good teachers, good students", ... were strongly launched and spread widely. The teaching staff of the whole province constantly trained professionally, cultivated the moral qualities of teachers, and promoted the motto "All for the students of the beloved ethnic groups of Son La ", contributing to bringing the province's education to a new stage of development.

Son La education progresses with the country

After a proud journey, Son La education has made strong progress in both scale and quality. By 2000, 98.5% of communes/wards/towns in the province had been recognized as meeting national standards for illiteracy eradication and universal primary education; 94% of the population aged 15-35 was literate. In the next 10 years, Son La province continued to complete the goal of universalizing lower secondary education at the right age, marking a new step forward in improving people's knowledge and developing local human resources. Entering the 2025-2026 school year, the scale of the province's education network has expanded, with 609 kindergartens, general schools and continuing education schools, nearly 380,000 students, and more than 23,400 officials and teachers at all levels. The whole province has over 98% of classrooms that are solid and semi-solid; 437/596 educational institutions have met national standards; 75 boarding schools have basically met the learning and living needs of over 60,000 students who are ethnic minority children. The teaching staff has been growing in both quantity and quality, with over 84% of teachers meeting or exceeding standards; including 2 associate professors, 5 doctors, 430 masters, nearly 16,920 teachers with university degrees, meeting the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive educational reform.

Class time of teachers and students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School.

The emulation movement "Teach well - Learn well", digital transformation, and innovation in teaching and learning have been implemented in a practical and sustainable manner. From 1996 to 2025, the whole province has had more than 330 students winning prizes in national excellent student competitions; 6 medals in continental and world competitions. The rate of students passing high school graduation from 2020 to present has reached over 99%. In addition, the Education and Training sector has also actively carried out foreign political tasks, promoting educational cooperation with the northern provinces of Laos, contributing to strengthening the solidarity and special friendship between Vietnam and Laos.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chien, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Son La province, said: Promoting the tradition of 70 years of construction and development, the Education and Training sector continues to complete the infrastructure system, improve the curriculum and enhance the quality of the teaching staff. In particular, promoting digital transformation in management and teaching activities, well meeting the needs of learning and training human resources to serve the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country.

Source: https://baosonla.vn/khoa-giao/tu-diet-giac-dot-den-chiem-linh-tri-thuc-YZkq0N6Hg.html