Muong Leo Ethnic Boarding Primary and Secondary School, Son La province, commenced the 2025-2026 school year.

It's difficult to "retain" students on their journey of knowledge.

According to a report by the Ministry of Education and Training, after the reorganization of administrative units, there are 248 land border communes nationwide. Currently, there are approximately 625,255 students studying in 956 general education schools in these areas; of which 332,019 students require boarding or semi-boarding facilities, accounting for 53.1% of the total number of students.

However, currently, in 248 communes, only nearly 59,000 students are boarding or semi-boarding at 22 ethnic minority boarding schools and about 160 ethnic minority semi-boarding schools. This means that there are still more than 273,000 students who need boarding or semi-boarding but do not have access to these facilities, and who still have to travel back and forth on bumpy roads to school every day to pursue their dreams of knowledge.

According to the results of the 3rd Socio-Economic Information Survey of 53 Ethnic Minority Groups (published by the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions in July 2025), the average distance from home to school for ethnic minority students in border areas is 2.6 km at the primary level and 4.7 km at the secondary level, higher than the average for all 53 ethnic minority groups. This excessively long distance from home to school has made the educational path very precarious for many ethnic minority students.

In the 2025-2026 school year, Chảo A Ton, born in 2014, of the Dao ethnic group, is a 6th grade student in class 6B at Khánh Xuân Ethnic Boarding Junior High School, Cao Bằng province. A Ton is one of two students in class 6B from Cà Lò – a border village located about 30 km through the forest from the center of Khánh Xuân commune. From grades 1 to 4, A Ton studied in the village (Cà Lò branch school, part of Khánh Xuân Ethnic Boarding Primary School), but had to move to the main school for grade 5.

According to Chảo A Ton, being able to study, live, and eat at the school, along with receiving government support for his studies, is a huge motivation for him to study hard. However, Ton is unsure if he will be able to complete his high school education. Because the commune does not yet have a boarding school for both junior and senior high school, after finishing junior high school, Ton will have to travel another distance to reach senior high school, while his family is still facing financial difficulties.

Building a "foundation" of knowledge in border regions.

According to a report by the Ministry of Education and Training, under the boarding and semi-boarding policy, a student attending ethnic minority boarding schools will receive financial support equivalent to an average of 23 million VND per school year from the budget; for students in ethnic minority semi-boarding schools, the average is about 16 million VND per student per school year. However, after each school year and each level of education, the number of students in boarding and semi-boarding schools continues to decrease by a few.

Among the many reasons why students in mountainous and border areas do not complete their education, one is the lack of boarding schools that offer integrated education, especially those covering all three levels of schooling. According to data from the Ministry of Education and Training, out of 956 schools in the 248 border communes on land, only about 110 are integrated primary and lower secondary schools; 4 are integrated lower secondary and upper secondary schools; and there are no schools that integrate all three levels: primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary.

In accordance with the Politburo's directive in Notice No. 81-TB/TW dated July 27, 2025, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting with relevant ministries and agencies. The Prime Minister launched a rapid campaign to build multi-level boarding schools for 248 border communes; initially, the goal is to complete construction on 100 schools in 2025 (with the latest completion date being the 2026-2027 school year), and then expand to the entire land border region.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested that priority be given to allocating central government budget funds in accordance with the Politburo's directives; while simultaneously mobilizing maximum social resources to create a vibrant and widespread emulation movement.

"We must mobilize the strength of the entire political system and society to participate in various forms such as contributing labor, effort, and days of work. In particular, the Army and the Police are ready to undertake construction in the most rugged and difficult areas," the Prime Minister emphasized.

Mobilizing social resources to build multi-level boarding schools not only meets the increasing educational needs of students but also opens up opportunities to narrow the gap in educational conditions between lowland and highland areas, thereby creating a better future for the border regions of the country.