In Gia Lai province, 38 elementary school students in Duc Co district have not yet started school because their parents believe the new school, located 7 km from their homes, is too far and difficult to transport them to and from school.
Duc Hung village is located in the border area of Ia Nan commune and has 218 households. There is a branch of Cu Chinh Lan Primary School here for elementary school students.
However, starting from the 2023-2024 school year, students in grades 1, 2, and 4 will attend the main school in Ia Chía village (Ia Nan commune), about 7 km from the school branch, while the remaining grades will continue to study at the village's school branch. The parents of 38 children disagree with this change and are refusing to send their children to school.
Many parents who work as hired rubber tappers say they often work from midnight until dawn, and then have to rush to get their children fed and sent to school far away, which is very tiring. The children have school five days a week, not including two afternoon classes in English, Computer Science, and Physical Education, so transporting them takes up a lot of time.
Parents arrive at Duc Hung village school on September 9th. Photo: Ngoc Oanh
Mr. Ta Quang Dieu, Principal of Cu Chinh Lan Primary School, said that due to a shortage of teachers, the school was forced to merge and plans to continue moving grades 3 and 5 from the village branch school to the main school next year.
According to him, students at the main campus will have a better educational environment, with additional functional classrooms for Computer Science, English, Music, Art, etc.
"We explained the advantages and disadvantages so that parents could understand and see the long-term benefits, but because they have long been accustomed to sending their children to schools near home, they are still hesitant and have not yet accepted," Mr. Dieu said.
For the 2023-2024 school year, Gia Lai province is short of approximately 6,000 teachers. Specifically, Duc Co district alone needs 254 teachers based on demand and 16 teachers based on official staffing quotas.
Mr. Siu Luynh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Duc Co District, said that merging and consolidating classes is a major policy of the education sector. The district had planned for students from Duc Hung village to attend Kpa Klong Primary School (Ia Nan commune), which is more than 3 km away, but the parents still disagreed. The Ia Nan commune police contacted relevant authorities to rent a car, and the school is also ready to send staff along to guide the children on safe travel habits.
"We share the difficulties with the families in Duc Hung village, but the main school has many advantages. Through persuasion, many parents have agreed to send their children to school," Mr. Luynh said.
Parents' protests against school mergers, citing inconvenience in transportation, are a common occurrence at the beginning of each school year. In Da Nang , 54 students from Nam Yen village, Hoa Bac commune, Hoa Vang district, have yet to attend school in a new, well-equipped facility because it is far from their homes (2-3 km). Similar situations have occurred in Nghe An and Ha Tinh in previous years.
Meanwhile, the merger and restructuring of school networks has been implemented in localities for many years. This policy aims to streamline the management, teaching, and staff workforce, focusing investment on improving the quality of education. Main school locations generally have better facilities, meeting the requirements for teaching and learning the new general education curriculum (2018).
Ngoc Oanh
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