Tien Phong – difficulties before the new school year

Traffic is fragmented, travel is too difficult; lack of teachers locally, lack of classrooms, having to go to other places to study, inadequate policies for teachers and students... are the challenges facing education in Tien Phong - one of the most difficult communes in the province. Only a few days left until the new school year begins, but there are still too many problems and worries.

Road traffic is cut off, many students in Tien Phong commune have to go to school by river.

Most of the teachers teaching at schools in the mountainous commune of Tien Phong live in Da Bac commune (formerly Da Bac town). The nearest school is about 20km away, the farthest is 40km. There are no public houses, many teachers have small children so they have to go to school in the morning and come back in the evening. It is worth mentioning that the daily route for teachers to school belongs to the project to upgrade the inter-commune road Vay Nua (now Da Bac commune) - Tien Phong, 24km long, which started construction at the end of 2022 and is still unfinished. On the positive slopes are mounds of earth and rocks jutting out precariously on the high mountain slopes like traps for passersby. On the negative slopes, the old roadbed is deeply gouged, at risk of collapse. After the torrential rains of storm No. 5, the road to school for teachers and students in schools in Tien Phong commune is even more dangerous. The difficult traffic is one of the main reasons why Tien Phong has not been able to recruit teachers for many years.

Sharing about the shortage of teachers in the commune, Mr. Do Duc Thanh, Vice Chairman of Tien Phong Commune People's Committee, said: In the commune, there are 05 kindergartens and general schools with 58 classes and 1,039 students. The total number of cadres, teachers and employees at all 3 levels is 138 people, of which 12% are unqualified teachers. The whole commune is lacking 24 teachers and employees. The most worrying thing is the lack of secondary school teachers in Math, Literature and English. Tien Phong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities has 6 classes but only 1 Math teacher, 1 Literature teacher; Vay Nua Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities has 5 secondary school classes but only 1 Literature teacher. The shortage of teachers has been greatly affecting the quality of teaching and learning in schools.

Along with the lack of teachers, the problem of physical facilities is also a challenge for Tien Phong education . The whole commune has 65 classrooms, of which only 96.92% are solid classrooms. The physical facilities of some schools are still facing many difficulties, especially at the remote schools, lacking classrooms for subjects according to the new curriculum, many teaching equipments are damaged and degraded due to long-term investment; the fence system, auxiliary works of some schools are degraded, collapsed due to storms. In particular, Sang Bo school of Vay Nua Kindergarten was eroded and damaged by storm No. 3 and has not been repaired or rebuilt. The distance from Sang Bo to the main school is 20km of winding and degraded mountain roads, so currently there are 3 groups of classes having to study at the village Cultural House. Besides the lack of classrooms, the kindergartens are seriously lacking books and library equipment. Classroom teaching equipment, outdoor equipment and toys are lacking and degraded.

Teachers at Vay Nua Kindergarten make use of available materials such as bamboo, palm leaves... to make tools and toys for students.

In addition, the operation of the boarding school at Tien Phong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities and Vay Nua Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities has been very difficult. Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Danh Dinh, Principal of Vay Nua Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, said: The school has 20 classes with 388 students, 100% of the school's students are ethnic minorities, of which more than 60% are Dao students. Currently, the school has about 100 boarding students. Unlike boarding schools in the lowlands where students have lunch and only stay at school at noon, boarding students in mountainous schools, especially difficult areas like ours, stay at school all week like boarding students because their houses are 20km away from the school and transportation is difficult. However, currently, the students are only supported with 936,000 VND per month, but the school still has to arrange for 3 meals a day, and provide them with electricity and water. Boarding school students will be supported with 80% of the basic salary per month (currently equivalent to 1,872,000 VND); provided with personal belongings and school supplies, rewards, and transportation expenses. In reality, the school still has to arrange and assign teachers to do student management work, closely manage all daily activities of eating, living, and living of the students like boarding school students, but the allowance for teachers is not as good as boarding school students. In reality, there have been and are problems arising in such policies, and we hope that the relevant agencies will pay attention and resolve them.

Only a few days left until the new school year begins, but difficulties are still piling up for education in the Tien Phong lake commune. Located nearly 130 km away from the new provincial center, teachers, students and people of Tien Phong commune hope that the local difficulties will be taken care of and gradually resolved so that literacy in the highlands will be less difficult and education in the highlands will gradually approach that of the more favorable areas.

Willow

Source: https://baophutho.vn/tien-phong--nhung-kho-khan-truoc-them-nam-hoc-moi-238839.htm