The dream of "Standard Schools"

For decades, the journey to literacy for children of ethnic minorities has been a persistent struggle. Thanks to the special attention of the Party, the State, and our province and localities, the face of education in the mountainous border regions has undergone encouraging changes. Solidly built buildings have gradually replaced thatched classrooms; policies supporting boarding school programs have become a "magnet" attracting students from remote villages to come down from the mountains to seek education. However, behind these efforts, the educational landscape in border communes still faces challenges, where the dream of a standard, large-scale school remains a burning aspiration.

Perspective view of the Chiềng Sơn Commune Inter-level Boarding School Project (Primary and Secondary levels).

For decades, the journey of ethnic minority children in their pursuit of literacy has been a persistent and unwavering struggle. Education and training have always been a top priority in the Party and State's sustainable development strategy. In our province, this special attention has been concretized by increasingly modern school buildings, gradually eliminating makeshift classrooms made of bamboo and thatch. Solidly built school buildings have sprung up in remote villages, along with policies supporting boarding students in mountainous areas, becoming a magnet attracting children from the most isolated villages to come down from the mountains to seek education.

Following the reorganization of commune-level administrative units, the province now has 44 educational institutions from preschool to junior high school in border areas, with over 14,300 students, of which more than 80% are children of ethnic minorities. The reality shows that although investment has been increased, it has not yet been able to fully address the specific shortcomings. While most schools in commune centers receive substantial investment, most preschool and primary school students in remote villages still have to study in extremely deprived conditions. Geographical isolation not only hinders travel but also limits the literacy and awareness of some ethnic minority groups. Taking advantage of the remote terrain, hostile forces and malicious individuals have continuously sought to spread propaganda, entice, and illegally proselytize in order to sow discord and undermine national unity. Therefore, caring for and nurturing the cause of education is both a task of raising the intellectual level of the people and a crucial responsibility in maintaining people's security.

For over ten years, teacher Lo Van Thuyet has dedicated his youth to understanding and empathizing with the arduous journeys of the students in Long Phieng commune, navigating the steep slopes and deep ravines of Chieng Tuong Primary School. For him, the greatest concern for teachers is the lack of resources, the cramped living conditions of students in boarding facilities lacking reading rooms and teaching equipment. Teacher Thuyet shared emotionally: “What teachers most long for is for students to have a truly spacious and well-equipped boarding school. There, they would have classrooms that are warm in winter and cool in summer, and clean living spaces so they can focus on their studies. When learning conditions are ensured, the students will not drop out, and teachers like us will be further motivated and confident to stay in this remote area and commit to the cause of education for the long term.”

A lesson with the teacher and students at A Lá branch school, Lóng Sập Ethnic Minority Boarding Primary and Secondary School.

Sympathizing with those hardships, Captain Nguyen Manh Phuong, Deputy Political Officer of the Muong Lan Border Guard Post, who has spent many years working alongside the local people, shared about the rainy seasons when the roads to Na An, Huoi Pa, and Huoi Men villages were completely cut off by mud and landslides. The image of small, frail children, not wearing enough warm clothes, trudging dozens of kilometers through the forest to reach the boarding school is a constant source of concern for the soldiers. He confided: "The socio-economic and educational conditions here are still very difficult; many children lack warm clothing and school supplies. Teachers also suffer many disadvantages, having to live far from their families and lacking adequate living conditions. The dream of having 'standard schools' in the high-altitude border region is a shared aspiration and a determination of the entire province."

The hardships of a school located in a remote village.

Due to the fragmented terrain and scattered villages, establishing schools in mountainous border regions has always been a challenge. To ensure that no children are left behind, the model of "village-based" schools has emerged and been maintained for decades. However, while central schools are the face of the commune, these remote schools are the most difficult areas for education in mountainous, remote, and isolated regions. Here, facilities and teaching equipment are always in short supply, making the goal of improving the overall quality of education seem distant.

Suoi Thin branch school, Chieng Son Primary School.
Photo: PV

We had the opportunity to visit many remote schools to understand these difficulties. Suoi Thin is one of the most remote and challenging of the eight remote schools belonging to Chieng Son Primary School. Located not too far from the center of Chieng Son commune if viewed on Google Maps, in this border region, a few kilometers of mountain road can feel like a long journey. The steep slopes, narrow roads, and continuous hairpin bends forced us to drive in low gear, crawling slowly up the hillside. After more than an hour, the small, charming Suoi Thin school appeared on the hillside.

Welcoming us, Mr. Nguyen Quang Truong, Vice Principal of Chieng Son Primary School, introduced: "The school currently has 5 classes from grades 1-5 with nearly 200 students, all children of the Mong ethnic minority in the village. The area is large, the population is scattered, and the roads are steep and treacherous, so parents have discussed with the school about building temporary shelters near the school for their children to live in. This is a way for the children to easily get to school without having to struggle to get home every day. The school has arranged for teachers to supervise and care for the children during breaks, but the students' living conditions here are still fraught with difficulties and shortages."

The students at Suoi Thin school branch, Chieng Son Primary School, and the "Special boarding house".
Photo: Thuy Duong

Following Mr. Truong to visit the boarding school for students at Suoi Thin branch, we were deeply moved by the sight of the makeshift huts constructed from crude wood, with old fiber cement roofs. Inside each hut were only a few bamboo beds; in the corner, clothes and worn-out blankets were hastily piled up. A few young children, just returning from school, huddled together, their faces smudged with soot; their meal consisted only of bamboo shoots with chili, a pot of wild vegetable soup, and plain salt...

Song Thi Ca, a fifth-grade student at Suoi Thin school, shared: "There are 86 students living in this makeshift shelter while attending school. Every day, we take turns cooking, fetching water, and cleaning. The teachers are very caring; sometimes they buy us extra meat or dried fish to improve our meals. My friends and I always hope to have a beautiful school with a library, a playground, and clean living quarters so we can study better."

The story at Suoi Thin school is not unique. In many schools in the mountainous border regions of Son La province, the journey to school remains arduous for students. According to statistics from the Department of Education and Training, by the end of 2025, nearly 27% of classrooms in the province were semi-permanent or temporary structures; 37 out of 609 primary and secondary schools did not meet the minimum infrastructure standards, mainly in border areas. This shows that education in border regions needs more than just a few classrooms or small facilities; it needs a comprehensive boarding school model to address the root causes of long-standing difficulties.

"A cool breeze" in the middle of the forest

For Son La – a locality with over 240 km of border and many particularly disadvantaged mountainous communes – Conclusion No. 81-TB/TW is a "golden opportunity" for Son La to gradually and fundamentally change the face of education in the border region. When boarding schools of all levels are built in 13 border communes, students will have stable living and studying conditions right in their area; teachers will have a better teaching environment; and parents will feel secure sending their children to school. With the system of boarding schools of all levels in the border communes, it will become a cultural and educational center, helping to narrow the educational gap between regions; students will have a better learning environment, contributing to the development of local human resources to serve the development of the difficult border region.

Long Sap border commune.

Mr. Bui Trong Thang, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction, stated: Each school site must have a minimum land area of ​​5 hectares, sufficient to accommodate five main functional blocks, including: a learning area with classrooms serving at least 1,000 students; a dormitory for boarding students; a common area such as a cafeteria, playground, sports area, swimming pool, and cultural and artistic space; a staff housing area for teachers; and other auxiliary facilities to ensure long-term learning and living conditions. In addition, the site must have stable terrain, avoiding landslide risks, convenient transportation, proximity to water sources, and be consistent with long-term development planning...

From here, the future of students in border areas will be illuminated, contributing to the creation of generations of young people with knowledge and aspirations for advancement. Mr. Nguyen Van Chien, Director of the Department of Education and Training, analyzed: The key point of this policy is, first and foremost, to address the fundamental difficulties of education in border areas, where there are many students but the geographical area is vast, and the infrastructure is still lacking and not synchronized. Investing in the construction of boarding schools at all levels not only increases the number of schools and classrooms but also forms an educational model suitable to the specific characteristics of the border region; ensuring better conditions for learning, living, nurturing, and managing students; and gradually narrowing the educational gap between border areas and more developed areas.

Immediately following the Politburo's directive, the Son La Provincial People's Committee issued a decision to apply a special mechanism to invest in the construction of 13 boarding schools for primary and secondary levels in border communes, creating a legal framework for an unprecedented campaign in terms of scale and speed. With the high efforts and determination of the entire political system, in less than two months of rapid implementation, the 13 boarding school projects in border communes were successively started, bringing joy and excitement to teachers, students, and ethnic minority communities, carrying with them the belief and hope for a bright future in this border region of the Fatherland.

(to be continued)

Huy Ngoan - Hoang Giang