School organization, not just to reduce clutter

The rearrangement of educational facilities from kindergarten to high school in the coming time needs to avoid repeating old mistakes when carried out mechanically.

SOME PLACES PROPOSE TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF SCHOOLS BY 50%

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, after merging provincial administrative boundaries, the scale and number of educational institutions in each province increased significantly. On average, each province has over 1,000 public preschool, general education, vocational education and general education institutions, not to mention thousands of independent and private educational centers and institutions.

Immediately after implementing the two-level government arrangement, many Departments of Education and Training are in the process of reviewing the school network. Initially, some provinces have implemented the merger of schools and school locations in a commune or ward. At the same time, priority is given to building new schools in concentrated residential areas with high urbanization rates.

Up to this point, Quang Ninh is one of the few localities that has submitted a plan to the Provincial People's Committee to merge and streamline the education system from preschool to high school. Ms. Chau Hoai Thu, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh, said that the whole province currently has 637 preschool, primary, secondary, high school, vocational education centers, continuing education (GDTX) and universities, colleges, and intermediate schools (including 56 private schools). It is expected that after the arrangement, the number of school focal points will be reduced by about 50%, equivalent to nearly 300 merged schools and centers.

Specifically, according to the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh, there are currently 185 preschool schools, expected to decrease by 88 schools; there are 152 primary schools, a decrease of 48 schools; there are currently 183 secondary schools and inter-primary - secondary schools, a decrease of 115 schools; there are 36 high schools and inter-level schools with high schools, a decrease of 2 schools; there are 14 vocational education and continuing education centers, expected to have only 1 provincial center after the merger is completed.

For the northern mountainous provinces, merging educational facilities is a pressing need so that students can enjoy equal quality of education.

PHOTO: TUE NGUYEN

Ms. Thu said that the process of building the merger plan "was carefully calculated, not disrupting students' studies, not affecting people's rights". Students still study at the existing school, ensuring enough classrooms, facilities, and teaching equipment.

According to Ms. Thu, after the merger, the school management system will be streamlined and unified; operations, inspection and supervision will be more convenient, contributing to improving the efficiency of management and the quality of education in the whole province. At the same time, this will also help to regulate the teaching staff more reasonably, overcoming the situation of "local surplus - shortage" of teachers that is happening in many localities.

S MERGE TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH EQUAL EDUCATION QUALITY

For the northern mountainous provinces, the merger of educational institutions is still a pressing need, especially the reduction of the number of separate primary school locations so that students can enjoy the same quality of education as students at the main school location. In particular, in the context of implementing the 2018 General Education Program, there is a shortage of teachers in subjects such as English and IT. If they are not concentrated at the main location, these localities will not be able to have teachers to teach such special subjects.

In the mountainous commune of Meo Vac (Tuyen Quang), after the district level was abolished and merged, the commune has 13 schools with 217 classes and nearly 6,510 students. Entering this school year, local education faces many difficulties such as: lack of teachers, medical staff, security guards; degraded facilities, lack of classrooms, department rooms, dormitories and clean water. In particular, commune-level management staff with inappropriate educational expertise are not suitable, causing difficulties in consulting, innovating teaching and learning, and testing and evaluation. Mr. Pham Van Tu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Meo Vac commune, said that the commune has organized a conference with schools to listen, research and propose solutions such as consolidating and eliminating satellite schools, and bringing students to main schools.

Parents of Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School, Thien Nhan Commune (Nghe An Province) protested against the school merger after the opening day. The recent school mergers in many places have been mechanical, causing difficulties for parents.

PHOTO: KHANH HOAN

N MANY CONSEQUENCES OF HURRY, MECHANICAL MERGER

From the 2017-2018 school year up to now, implementing Resolution 18 and Resolution 19 of the Central Committee on continuing to innovate the organization and management system, improving the quality and efficiency of public service units, many localities have reorganized educational institutions and many lessons have been learned. Among them, many localities have had to stop merging unsuitable schools or merge and then propose to separate.

Almost every year there are incidents such as parents not sending their children to school because they object to the fact that their children are studying at a school near their home, but after the merger, they have to go to school very far away, greatly affecting the transportation, time and effort of the students and their families.

In Nghe An, according to the report of the Department of Education and Training, from the 2020-2021 to 2024-2025 school year, the whole province merged 31 schools and reduced 200 separate public preschool and general schools. Typically, the districts: the old Ky Son reduced 34 separate schools, the old Tuong Duong reduced 26 separate schools, the old Que Phong reduced 21 separate schools, the old Tan Ky reduced 16 separate schools...

According to the assessment of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, the consolidation and merger of small-scale schools and individual schools in recent times has contributed to streamlining the apparatus, reducing staff, reducing management units; increasing the efficiency of using facilities and equipment; avoiding widespread investment and repair of facilities in difficult budget conditions.

According to many localities such as Que Phong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son..., the most difficult task of merging schools and satellite schools is at the preschool level due to the geographical distance between satellite schools and the main school; parents do not agree with the school merger due to the difficulty of taking their children to school far from home and the complexity of traffic.

Mr. Thai Van Thanh, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An, raised additional difficulties such as: Limited land fund for educational facilities (due to natural conditions of the region, difficult site clearance work due to people having settled down...), investment funds for building new schools/classes concentratedly do not meet the requirements.

According to Mr. Thanh, the school merger in some places is mechanical, mainly in terms of organization and apparatus, some schools still teach and study at the old school locations, causing difficulties in management, professional activities as well as organizing general activities of the schools. Some schools merged primary and secondary schools into inter-level schools. But after the merger, the two levels still operate relatively independently due to different majors, inconsistent school hours affecting management work.

Along with that, the merger of schools in many localities was carried out while the facilities at the main school were not fully prepared, causing overload and pressure on the school facilities here, especially the facilities serving comprehensive education and boarding, significantly affecting the quality of school operations.

Mu Cang Chai (Lao Cai) students are brought to the main boarding school to ensure comprehensive education.

PHOTO: TUE NGUYEN

Or in Son La, the recent restructuring has reduced the number of schools by over 230. However, after the implementation period, many shortcomings have been revealed, which are not suitable for the characteristics of mountainous and border areas. For example, there are more than 100 schools after the merger that do not meet the criteria of national standard schools even though they previously met the standards; or in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions, there are cases where before the merger, students were entitled to boarding policies, but after the merger, they did not meet the conditions to enjoy this policy...

Along with many other shortcomings, the Department of Education and Training of Son La once proposed and proposed a pilot project to separate 29 schools, focusing on schools with more than 35 classes and more than 5 school locations; separating inter-level schools with more than 45 classes and a large number of students; separating primary and secondary schools with long travel distances between two school locations...

Therefore, the issue that localities will face in the coming time is to review and re-evaluate the implementation of planning and arrangement of school networks in the past time in order to promptly develop plans and arrangements to develop school networks in accordance with the population size, the development situation of the province, the direction of the Central Government and in accordance with the new situation after merging and rearranging administrative units to ensure people's access to education.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sap-xep-truong-hoc-khong-chi-de-giam-dau-moi-185251009222951328.htm