Lai Chau proposes the Ministry of Education and Training to remove "bottlenecks" to create breakthroughs in educational development in mountainous and border areas.

(laichau.gov.vn) This afternoon (October 10), in Hanoi, the working delegation of Lai Chau province led by Comrade Tong Thanh Hai - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee had a working session with the Ministry of Education and Training on the education and training situation in the province and proposed to remove some difficulties and obstacles. Working with the delegation were Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong and leaders of Departments and Offices under the Ministry.

Working scene.

The provincial delegation also included Mr. Mac Quang Dung - Director of the Department of Education and Training, Mr. Pham Hong Truong - Chief of Office of the Provincial People's Committee, and leaders of relevant agencies.

Reporting at the meeting, Director of the Department of Education and Training Mac Quang Dung said that in recent years, with the attention of the Central Government and the Ministry of Education and Training , the education sector of Lai Chau province has made remarkable progress, gradually meeting the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in the specific conditions of a mountainous and border province.

In the 2025-2026 school year, the whole province has 336 educational institutions, including 335 public schools and 01 private school, with 5,165 classes, a total of 149,763 students, of which 127,348 are ethnic minority students, accounting for 85%. The system of boarding and semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities has been consolidated and promoted effectively, with 156 schools with 34,027 students enjoying support policies. The staff, teachers and employees of the whole sector currently have 11,273 people, of which 45.1% are ethnic minorities, 68.1% are female and 61.7% are party members; the rate of qualified and above-standard teachers is 96.63%.

Implementing the arrangement and streamlining of the organization, from 2018 to now, the province has reduced 97 schools, and transferred 304 schools to the People's Committees of communes and wards for management. School facilities have received investment attention, the whole province has 7,332 classrooms, of which 79.7% are solid rooms, 19.6% are semi-permanent rooms and only 0.7% are temporary classrooms. In the period of 2020 - 2025, 323 new classrooms have been built from national target programs. However, the system of subject rooms, functional rooms, and teaching equipment is still lacking and not synchronized, especially for new subjects such as Information Technology, Foreign Languages, Technology, Fine Arts, and Music.

The quality of comprehensive and key education has many positive changes. The province has completed universal preschool education for 5-year-old children, universal primary education level 3, secondary education level 1 and achieved the standard of eliminating illiteracy level 1. The rate of schools meeting national standards is 69.7%...

Regarding the construction of inter-level schools in border communes, Lai Chau has surveyed 11 border communes to implement the policy of building inter-level primary and secondary boarding schools. Of which, 5 schools (Bum Nua, Pa Tan, Hua Bum, Phong Tho, Dao San) are expected to start construction in 2025 and the remaining 6 schools will start construction in 2026. To date, 3 schools have started construction.

In addition to the achieved results, Lai Chau province is still facing a number of major difficulties, notably the lack of teachers, facilities, teaching equipment and investment capital for inter-level school projects in border areas. According to the Ministry of Education and Training's norms, in the 2025-2026 school year, the whole sector needs 12,623 positions, while the Central Government has only assigned 11,058, still lacking 1,565 positions (the biggest shortage is at the secondary level with 707 teachers). The lack of teachers has forced many schools to arrange for part-time teaching and overtime, affecting the quality of teaching and the implementation of the 2018 general education program.

Faced with these difficulties, the People's Committee of Lai Chau province requested the Ministry of Education and Training to coordinate with central ministries and branches to promptly allocate sufficient budget capital to build 5 border inter-level schools in 2025, and at the same time allow the expansion of this model in particularly difficult communes outside the border area. The province also proposed to supplement the missing teacher staff, support investment funding, purchase teaching equipment, and place Lai Chau in group I in the allocation of capital for national target programs and education and training development projects in the coming period.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tong Thanh Hai spoke at the meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tong Thanh Hai emphasized: Lai Chau province has allocated 24% of the local budget for education, higher than the minimum level of 20% as prescribed. The models of boarding schools, semi-boarding schools, and inter-level schools in border areas have been effective in mobilizing students to attend classes, contributing to ensuring social security and preserving the cultural identity of ethnic groups. However, Lai Chau education is still facing two major "bottlenecks": Lack of investment capital and facilities, the whole province still has hundreds of temporary classrooms, semi-permanent rooms; teaching equipment for the subjects of Information Technology, Foreign Languages, Fine Arts, and Technology is still very lacking; there is a serious shortage of teachers according to the standards of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also requested the Ministry of Education and Training to consider and coordinate with central ministries and branches to remove difficulties on key issues such as: Allocating central budget capital for the construction of 5 inter-level boarding schools in border communes (Pa Tan, Bum Nua, Hua Bum, Phong Tho, Dao San) in 2025 and 6 other schools in the next phase; allowing the province to build more inter-level boarding schools in particularly difficult communes outside the border area; putting Lai Chau into group I when allocating capital sources from the National Target Program, helping to increase resources for investment in facilities and teaching equipment; The Ministry of Education and Training coordinates with the Ministry of Home Affairs to supplement the 1,565 missing teachers, ensuring conditions for effective and sustainable implementation of the 2018 General Education Program; guiding the operating mechanism and regime for students at inter-level boarding schools in border areas; support the implementation of Chinese language teaching in schools in border communes.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong spoke at the meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong highly appreciated Lai Chau province's efforts in prioritizing resources for education. He affirmed that the Ministry will closely coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to remove difficulties, consider proposals on staffing, investment in facilities and special mechanisms for education in mountainous and border areas.

Source: https://laichau.gov.vn/tin-tuc-su-kien/hoat-dong-cua-lanh-dao-tinh/lai-chau-de-xuat-bo-giao-duc-va-dao-tao-thao-go-diem-nghen-de-tao-dot-pha-trong-phat-trien-giao-duc-vung-cao-bien-gioi.html