The classrooms at Binh Minh Kindergarten’s branch in Pung Khoai Village, Yen Chau District are in bad condition as they are made from bamboo and could collapse at any time, but the pupils and teachers have no options but to light fires indoors to keep warm. 

Children have fires to keep warm in the class

All of the children at the Pung Khoai branch are from Mong ethnic minority and their families are very poor.

The same situation is also seen at Binh Minh Kindergarten’s branch in Nam Un Village.

Nguyen Thanh Ha, a teacher at Nam Un branch, said that the local school had been open for 20 years. The 25 square-metre classroom made from bamboo often leaks when it is rainy. 

A classroom of Nam Un branch

"The children are from poor families so they even do not have enough warm clothes. We have to have a fire to make warm. We wish for better classrooms,” Ha added.

Khuat Thi Thanh, the headmaster of Binh Minh Kindergarten, said that the school has 27 branches and most of them face the same problem with Nam Un. 

Canvas used to cover the classroom to keep warm

Na Ot Day-boarding Ethnic Minority Secondary and High School’s branch in Huoi Dien, Mai Son District, looks more like a cowshed as its ceiling is just a metre high.

Pham Van Khanh, head of Education and Training Department of Son La Province, said that up to 142 classrooms in the locality need to be upgraded, mostly at nursery and primary schools. The province has set a goal to improve these classrooms in the coming time.

Between 2016 and 2018, the province restored and built 99 classrooms costing VND500 million.

Na Ot Day-boarding Secondary and High School's branch in Huoi Dien