Building boarding schools in border areas: Determined to overcome difficulties and ensure progress

GD&TĐ - Implementing the Prime Minister's direction, localities are urgently implementing the construction of 100 boarding schools in difficult border communes.

From surveying, planning to removing obstacles in planning and facilities, investment is carried out synchronously to ensure progress and quality.

Check conditions

On July 30, the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province issued Document No. 5569/UBND-XD on consulting on investment plans for the construction of inter-level boarding schools. On that basis, the Department of Education and Training coordinated with localities and functional agencies to survey the current situation to develop plans to serve the planning and development of education in disadvantaged areas. Through review, the whole province has 6 border communes that meet the criteria on class size and planned land area.

Son Kim 1 Commune is located in the West of Ha Tinh , with a 44 km long border with Laos, a natural area of ​​over 223 km², and a population of nearly 5,800 people. The rugged terrain and traffic disruption, especially during the rainy season, make it difficult for students to get to school.

Son Kim 1 has two main educational facilities: Son Kim 1 Primary School (two campuses) and Son Kim Secondary School (one campus) with a total of 1,332 students in the 2024-2025 school year, including 539 primary school students and 793 secondary school students. Of these, 101 are ethnic minority students living in mountainous areas with difficult conditions. The facilities do not meet the requirements for teaching and learning, there is a lack of classrooms and boarding areas, and the 2-session/day program cannot be implemented.

It is forecasted that in the period of 2026 - 2030, the number of students in Son Kim 1 commune will remain at over 1,100 students per year, with a scale of 38 - 40 classes. Although there is a slight downward trend due to population fluctuations, the need for learning is still great, especially in the context of education policies increasingly prioritizing remote areas. Based on this reality, the People's Committee of Son Kim 1 commune has proposed to build a boarding school for primary and secondary levels in Trung village.

Mr. Pham Anh Hao - Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Kim 1 commune, affirmed: "If approved, this will be the first inter-level boarding school in Son Kim 1, helping to reduce commuting pressure, improve education quality, ensure students study 2 sessions/day and contribute to improving the intellectual level of people in the border area".

In addition to Son Kim 1, the communes of Son Kim 2, Huong Xuan, Huong Khe, Huong Binh, Son Hong are also proposed to invest in building or upgrading boarding school systems to meet the learning needs in the area. Some projects are also associated with reusing existing infrastructure, such as in Son Kim 2 and Huong Binh, to avoid wasting public assets and optimize land funds.

In Dong Thap, Mr. Le Quang Tri - Director of the Department of Education and Training, said that implementing the Politburo 's Conclusion Notice No. 81 on the policy of investing in schools in border communes, the province has surveyed and made a table of needs for each school. Accordingly, Dong Thap proposed to build 14 primary and secondary schools in the mainland border communes, with a total estimated cost of 233.76 billion VND, of which the central budget is 163.632 billion VND, the rest from the local budget.

According to the survey, Dong Thap has more than 50 km of border with Cambodia, with 6 border communes and more than 28 thousand households. It is expected that 14 schools will serve more than 9,000 students. According to Mr. Le Quang Tri, through the survey, students and parents do not have the need for boarding school. The Department of Education and Training has reviewed and reported to the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Ministry has sent a document to the Office of the General Secretary on this issue.

Photo illustration INT.

Untie the planning knot

In Vu Quang commune (Ha Tinh), Vu Quang Primary and Secondary School is not yet qualified to become an inter-level boarding school due to limited land area and class size. However, the locality still proposed to renovate and upgrade the existing facilities with an investment of 22 billion VND, serving nearly 500 students, expected to be completed by the end of August 2026.

Ha Tinh currently has 4 projects eligible to start construction in 2025, including schools in Son Kim 1, Huong Khe, Huong Binh and Son Hong. These are projects with available land, favorable planning and well-prepared investment plans. However, the Department of Education and Training pointed out a number of difficulties, such as sparse population, mountainous terrain, slow natural population growth rate, many communes have not met the standards on classroom size and minimum land area of ​​5 - 10 hectares according to Document No. 4408/BGDĐT-KHTC dated July 29, 2025 of the Ministry of Education and Training.

“The adjustment and supplementation of land use planning is difficult because the quota has not been allocated to the commune level. The survey time is short, there is a lack of specialized staff in construction and education, affecting the reporting progress. Some communes have not fully calculated the total investment, lack compensation, consulting, contingency and project management costs, causing many shortcomings in capital allocation,” informed Mr. Nguyen Hong Cuong - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Tinh.

Faced with this situation, the Department of Education and Training of Ha Tinh province proposed that the Provincial People's Committee direct departments and branches to coordinate with localities to conduct detailed surveys on land funds, implementation progress and total investment. At the same time, it proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training consider adjusting a number of criteria to suit the actual conditions in border communes, such as reducing the minimum land area, adjusting class sizes and allowing the use of school planning towards the future.

In addition, Dong Thap will build a number of items at 14 border schools so that students can attend boarding school. The Department of Education and Training will continue to perfect regulations, ensuring that students in border areas enjoy appropriate policies, while at the same time arranging teachers appropriately, ensuring the budget to maintain operations and policies for teachers in the new conditions.

Implementing the direction of the People's Committee of Dong Thap province, the review and assessment of needs in border communes to propose a plan to build a boarding school for primary and secondary schools was carefully implemented by the Department of Education and Training, not only from the management agency, but also with the participation of teachers, principals, homeroom teachers and parents. - Mr. Le Quang Tri said.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/xay-truong-noi-tru-vung-bien-gioi-quyet-tam-vuot-kho-bao-dam-tien-do-post746491.html