The effectiveness of policies supporting students in disadvantaged areas

(LSO) – In recent years, the State’s policies on supporting ethnic minority students and students studying in ethnic minority semi-boarding secondary schools in disadvantaged areas in the province have created a “nudge” to improve the quality of education in the area.

The simultaneous implementation of many policies to support students in extremely disadvantaged areas such as policies on supporting semi-boarding students, ethnic minority semi-boarding schools in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions (according to Prime Minister’s Decision No.85/2010/QĐ-TTg dated December 21, 2010); the Government’s Decree No.86/2015/NĐ-CP dated October 2, 2015 stipulating the mechanism of collecting and managing tuition fees for educational institutions in the national education system and the policy of tuition, learning cost exemption and reduction from the 2015-2016 school year to the 2020-2021 school year…have helped ethnic minority  students in the area reduce difficulties in the learning and feel secure to pursue their learning over the past years.

The teachers and students of Mau Son Commune Ethnic Minority Semi-boarding Secondary School, Loc Binh district during the lesson

Mr. Dang Hong Cuong, Head of Secondary Education Division, Department of Education and Training, said that implementing these policies, every year, the provincial education sector fully and promptly implements the regime of fee exemption and reduction, rice, food and accommodation allowance support and  policies to support pupils and high schools in particularly difficult communes and villages entitled to policies and study in the semi-boarding environment and so on. On average every year, the province has 36,200 students in extremely disadvanatged areas provided with rice, allowances for food and accommodation; 48,500 students in extremely difficult areas receive tuition fee exemption and reduction.

In particular, on July 18, 2016, the Government issued Decree 116/2016/NĐ-CP, stipulating policies to support students and secondary schools in extremely difficult villages and communes. Accordingly, students at ethnic minority semi-boarding secondary schools, students of primary and secondary schools in region III communes, or from 4 to 7 km away from the school, each student will be supported with a monthly food allowance equal to 40% of the base salary, the monthly accommodation fee equal to 10% of the base salary and 15 kg of rice. The maximum support period per academic year is 9 months. The semi-boarding ethnic minority secondary schools are supported to invest in facilities and equipment, set up a shared medicine cabinet for the semi-boarding area, buy common medicine with sufficient quantity of drugs to meet the requirements of disease prevention and unexpected emergency cases treatment with the support level of 50,000 VND/student/year.

With the above policies, over the past time, the system of ethnic minority semi-boarding secondary schools in the province has been increasingly expanded. In the school year 2010 – 2011, the whole province only had six semi-boarding ethnic minority secondary schools, by the school year 2020-2021, it will have increased to 98 ethnic minority semi-boarding secondary schools with over 15,200 students. In this environment, students from ethnic minorities are provided with conditions for concentrated learning and activities. Most schools have semi-boarding kitchens that are arranged appropriately, ensuring cleanliness and hygiene; 100% of semi-boarding ethnic minority secondary schools have clean water sources for cooking and drinking; 100% of students at ethnic minority semi-boarding secondary schools are provided with health insurance as prescribed. Thereby, it has helped ethnic minority students in the area reduce difficulties in the learning and feel secure to pursue their learning. The policies have greatly supported students in disadvantaged areas to have more motivation to go to school.

Trieu Nam Ha, a student in grade 7 at Mau Son Commune Ethnic Minority Semi-boarding Secondary School, Loc Binh district, said that his family is poor and his house is far away from the school, studying in the semi-boarding environment, entitled to the policy to eat, live and study at school, he does not have to worry about commuting to school every day. Moreover, with the tuition fee exemption and reduction, his parents also partly support him to go to school. Now, his main job is to focus on studying to satisfy his teachers and parents.

After many years of implementing policies to support students in ethnic minority areas and building the model of the ethnic minority semi-boarding secondary school, it has practically supported in improving the quality of education in disadvantaged areas in the province. From the 2017 – 2018 school year up to now, the percentage of ethnic minority students in ethnic minority semi-boarding secondary schools graded with fair and good behavior has always reached over 90%, an increase of over 10% compared to the 2010-2011 school year; with fair and good learning performance is over 40%, an increase of 11% compared to the 2010 – 2011 school year. Every year, the graduating ethnic minority students achieve over 87% (in 2010 it was 86.5%).