Early expansion of enrollment for Ha Tinh ethnic boarding school

"Support" for children of ethnic minorities

For nearly 30 years, Ha Tinh Ethnic Boarding Secondary and High School (located in Huong Khe town) has been a place to improve the knowledge of ethnic minority children; train human resources; and train talents. This school has "given wings" to many ethnic minority children to become cadres, teachers, doctors, soldiers, businessmen... with the desire to assert themselves and be ready to contribute. In recent years, the school has had 58 students from the Chut, Muong, Man, and Lao ethnic groups admitted to colleges and universities, many of whom have returned to serve their homeland and villages.

Throughout the past, Ha Tinh Boarding Secondary and High School for Ethnic Minorities has always fulfilled its mission in caring for, educating and nurturing children of ethnic minorities in the area.

Le Dang Dieu Chau - a student of the Faculty of Literature (Hue University of Education) shared: "I am a Lao ethnic, I left Phu Lam village (Phu Gia commune) to study at the boarding school at the age of 15. Here, I was cared for and looked after by teachers in all aspects, so I achieved many good results such as: 2 second prizes in the writing contest about teachers and school, the title of "3 Good Students", passed the university entrance exam with 29 points, was trained to join the Party, received a certificate of merit from the Minister - Chairman of the Ethnic Committee (2024)... I am very proud to study and train at this school".

Le Dang Dieu Chau (former student of the school) was honored to receive a certificate of merit from the Minister - Chairman of the Ethnic Committee in December 2024.

Here, students not only have their dreams fulfilled but are also well cared for and educated. Ho Thi Hang (grade 10) shared: "I left Rao Tre village (Huong Lien commune) to come here to study and be educated in a safe, healthy environment with regular activities; I am taught life skills, preserving national identity and orienting myself for the future... In addition, every day, we also have delicious, nutritious meals."

Mr. Ho Ha (parent of Ho Thi Hang) was touched: “Our children go to school far away for a whole week, but we feel very secure. We are very excited because the children are increasingly obedient, making progress, eating well, dressing well, and having many friends. We are also very grateful and appreciate the feelings and responsibilities of the teachers who have devoted themselves to the future of the children of the village.”

The quality of mass education is improved, the quality of key education is raised.

Teacher Dang Ba Hai - Vice Principal of Ha Tinh Boarding Secondary and High School for Ethnic Minorities excitedly said: "With the attention of the Party and the State, the efforts of the school, we have a team of teachers who are both "red" and "specialized", the quality of mass education has been improved, the quality of key subjects has been raised, and the infrastructure is guaranteed. In the 2023 - 2024 school year, the school has 9 excellent students in the district, the graduation rate is 100%, 10 students passed the university entrance exam (accounting for 42% of high school graduates), 5 students were awarded Vallet scholarships, 2 students were admitted to the Party, 1 student was awarded a certificate of merit by the Minister - Chairman of the Ethnic Minorities Committee...".

It can be affirmed that Ha Tinh Ethnic Boarding Secondary and High School is an important educational institution, indispensable in the career of caring for and educating ethnic minority children in the area. However, this special school is facing many difficulties, its scale is increasingly narrowed by the "bottleneck" of enrollment.

Under the guidance, supervision and management of teachers, secondary school students have formed the awareness of self-study, self-care and playing within the framework.

Need to expand enrollment to ensure scale

Previously, each school year, Ha Tinh Ethnic Boarding Secondary and High School had about 200 students in all grades of 2 levels, but in recent years, the number of students has gradually decreased. In the 2024-2025 school year alone, the total number of students studying is only 114 students with 6 classes/6 grades (grade 11 has no class). If nothing changes, it is forecasted that in the 2025-2026 school year, the whole school will only have about 80 students.

The reason for this problem is that the school is recruiting students according to Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BGDDT dated February 23, 2023 on "Issuing regulations on organization and operation of ethnic boarding schools" of the Ministry of Education and Training. Because it is only allowed to recruit "children of ethnic minorities in extremely difficult areas..." and "very small ethnic minorities..." (Chut ethnic group), the majority of the school's students are from La Khe, Bac Linh, Trung Linh villages (Huong Trach commune), Phu Lam (Phu Gia), Rao Tre (Huong Lien), Ban Giang 2 (Huong Vinh).

In the 2023-2024 school year, because there are no Chut ethnic minority students continuing to high school, enrollment in Rao Tre and Ban Giang 2 must be stopped.

Delicious, nutritious meals at school.

To overcome the shortage of students, in the 2024-2025 school year, the school proposed to the Department of Education and Training to expand the enrollment target according to Clause 4, Article 9 of Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BGDDT dated February 23, 2023 to enroll more subjects such as "ethnic minorities from poor and near-poor households whose parents or guardians have resided for 36 consecutive months or more in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions in the whole province" . However, because the whole province only has about 3,100 ethnic people (32 ethnic minorities) and the number of extremely difficult villages and hamlets, the number of poor and near-poor households is small, only 27 students are enrolled in grades 6, 7 and 10.

Mr. Dang Ba Hai - Vice Principal of the school is worried: "If the current enrollment situation continues, the size of schools and classes will increasingly shrink, wasting facilities, having excess equipment, affecting emulation movements and improving teaching quality... Therefore, we have proposed that all levels and sectors expand the enrollment subjects beyond Circular No. 04 of the Ministry of Education and Training".

The teachers here are both teachers and parents, closely monitoring all of their students' activities every day.

To help the school overcome difficulties, the Department of Education and Training issued Document No. 2427/SGDĐT-GDPT dated October 28, 2024 to the Ministry of Education and Training regarding the request for opinions on enrollment at Ha Tinh Boarding Secondary and High School for Ethnic Minorities to advise the province on specific policies. Accordingly, the Department requests enrollment outside Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BGDĐT to expand the enrollment target to ethnic minority children in ethnic minority villages, mountainous areas or border areas. The Ministry of Education and Training also issued Document No. 366/BGDĐT-GDTrH dated January 25, 2025 to the Department of Education and Training of Ha Tinh regarding the expansion of enrollment targets at Ha Tinh Boarding Secondary and High School for Ethnic Minorities and agreed to expand the enrollment target because it is consistent with other current regulations.

Mr. Le Huu Tan - specialist of the General Education Department (Ha Tinh Department of Education and Training) informed: "The Ministry has outlined specific grounds for expanding the enrollment target and requested the Department to consult with the Provincial People's Committee to develop a plan to submit to the Provincial People's Council to issue policies and allocate funding for implementation according to current regulations. We are focusing on reviewing and evaluating the situation of the school's facilities, equipment, and teaching staff and reviewing and checking the number of students, enrollment areas, and wishes of related subjects... After that, we will develop a plan that is accurate and suitable to reality to advise the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial People's Council to issue policies and expand the target."

Ha Tinh Ethnic Boarding Secondary and High School is the "cradle" of education, training, nurturing and nurturing children of ethnic minorities in the whole province.

Regarding this policy, Mr. Tran Van Hai - Secretary of the Party Committee of Son Kim 1 Commune (Huong Son) said: "Our border commune has nearly 120 households with about 380 ethnic minority people living, including about 20 ethnic minority middle and high school students, but each year only a few students are able to study at ethnic minority boarding schools. We hope that the province and the Department of Education and Training will soon consider expanding the scope of ethnic minority students living in the border area so that more children can benefit. The locality will coordinate, review, and support this issue"...

Obviously, expanding the enrollment target is urgent and meaningful, so it should be prioritized for early implementation!

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/som-mo-rong-doi-tuong-tuyen-sinh-cho-truong-dan-toc-noi-tru-ha-tinh-post285811.html