The system of special schools contributes to helping students in difficult areas to go to school

The province currently has 110 specialized schools, which are boarding and semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities, which together with high schools in the province have brought practical benefits, helping disadvantaged students have better opportunities to go to school.

Lang Son has 88/200 communes in the 3rd zone (communes with special difficulties according to Decision No. 861), with a population of nearly 800,000 people, of which more than 80% are ethnic minorities. In mountainous and ethnic minority areas in the province, in many places the terrain is complicated, the roads are difficult to travel, a number of students who go to school cannot return home during the day but have to stay at school or rent a room near school. Therefore, the system of semi-boarding and boarding high schools plays an important role in meeting the learning needs of students in remote areas of the province. Therefore, over the years, the province’s education and training sector has constantly paid attention to arranging and improving the quality of these specialized schools.

Students of the Semi-Boarding Secondary School in Thien Long Commune, Binh Gia District on the opening day of the new school year 2022 – 2023

Prominent is the rearrangement of boarding schools in districts, whereby, from 2016 and earlier, district schools only have  secondary level, after the arrangement, until the 2022-2023 school year, 10 out of 10 boarding schools in the districts have been converted into boarding schools for middle and high schools and are allowed to enroll more high school students, thereby increasing the number of ethnic minority students in difficult-to-study areas and enjoying the State’s regimes and policies. As for the semi-boarding ethnic minority high schools, after implementing the arrangement of the school and classroom network, the province now has 99 schools in 88 extremely difficult communes, basically meet the requirements of teaching and learning in remote and ethnic minority areas of the province. These schools are annually paid attention by the provincial Department of Education and Training to supplement facilities and teaching equipment in a solid and modern direction, ensuring good service for education.

Mrs. Nguyen Tuyet Chinh, Principal of Cao Loc Secondary – High School Boarding Ethnic Minority School said: From the school year 2021-2022, the school is converted into an inter-secondary school – high school, so that in the past 2 years, the number of students studying at the school has gradually increased. If last year, the school had 12 classes with 343 students, then in the 2022-2023 school year, this has increase to 13 classes with 372 students. Thereby, this help many ethnic minority students in extremely difficult areas in the district enjoy the State’s treatment regimes, and at the same time increase their opportunity of going to school.

According to the report of the provincial Department of Education and Training, the whole province currently maintains 10 boarding schools for ethnic minority middle and high schools, one boarding high school for ethnic minorities with nearly 3,500 students; 100% of students are entitled to the regime according to Circular No. 109/2009/TTLT/BTC-BGDDT on implementation of the financial regime for students of boarding schools. Along with that, there are 99 semi-boarding schools from primary to secondary schools with more than 17,000 students, in this learning environment, they are entitled to the regimes prescribed by Decree No. 116/2016/ND-CP stipulating policies to support students and high schools in extremely difficult communes and villages. With these remuneration regimes, students can feel secure about going to school.

Vy Thi Them, a student of class 9A, Semi-Boarding High School and Secondary School, Van Thuy Commune, Bac Son District said: Studying in a semi-boarding environment, I am supported with meals and accommodation at school, giving me more time and motivation to study. In addition, I also have more time to participate in competitions launched by the school, including a creative competition for youth and children.Thereby, with the product “mini corn stalk harvester”, I won the 3rd prize in the national creative competition for youth and children in 2021, in the field of environmentally friendly products. Being able to study and live in a boarding environment has helped me and my friends to practice and strive to achieve high results.

The system of specialized schools has contributed to improving the quality of ethnic minority education in the province. Specifically, in the past school year 2021 – 2022, at the primary level, the rate of mobilization of 6-year-old children in grade 1 reached 99.9%; students complete the class program over 99%; at  secondary level, the rate of students who complete the primary education program entering grade 6 reaches 99.9%; along with that, the results of the 2-sided classification for ethnic minority students at secondary school with good academic performance accounted for 65.1%;  good and very good conduct accounted for 99.19%. At the high school level, the quality of high school education remained stable, with 66.6% of students classified as having good or very good academic performance; High school graduates reached over 97%.