140 students have not yet gone to school
On September 9, in an exchange with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Dau Viet Trieu - Principal of Quynh Tam Primary School, Quynh Tam commune, Nghe An province said that on the morning of the same day, only 20 students out of a total of about 160 students at Tien Son school point were brought to the main school point by parents to study.
Thus, there are still about 140 students who have not returned to school after the locality implemented the plan to dissolve Tien Son branch school, transfer students to the main school branch and Quynh Tam Primary School branch.
The school is continuing to propagate and mobilize parents to bring their children to school and believes that the number of parents who agree will increase day by day" - teacher Dau Viet Trieu said.
Meanwhile, some parents and people in Tien Son village have sent petitions to many central agencies and Nghe An province, requesting a review of the school dissolution plan.
According to people, the arrangement needs to fully consider the travel distance, student safety, family economic conditions and children's access to education.
Parents reflect that from the residential area to the new school site, the common distance is 6-7km, some families are about 10km away from the school. Some roads in the residential area are still dirt roads, which can be muddy when it rains; on the route to the school, there are trucks circulating.
Among the families with affected children, there are near-poor households, households in difficult circumstances, families with parents working far away, single mothers or children cared for by elderly grandparents.
According to parents, having to pick up and drop off elementary school students on a longer distance incurs costs and time, and also poses a potential risk of unsafety. People propose that functional agencies consider repairing, upgrading and maintaining Tien Son school instead of just choosing the dissolution option.
Will have a dialogue with parents
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper on September 9, leaders of Quynh Tam Commune People's Committee said that the policy of eliminating Tien Son satellite school has been discussed by the locality for many years.
According to commune leaders, the reason is that the facilities of Tien Son school point have seriously deteriorated, not ensuring safety for teachers and students. Meanwhile, the main school point and branch have been synchronously invested, with better conditions to organize teaching.
The report of Quynh Tam Commune People's Committee said that Tien Son point was built in 1998, including 5 classrooms, currently 5 rooms are degraded, of which 3 rooms are at high risk of collapse.
Tien Son point is about 6km from the main school point, about 7km from the branch, traffic is "basically convenient", not through passes, rivers, streams or isolated areas.
The main school point has been invested in spaciously and methodically, while the locality does not have funds to rebuild the satellite school point. The ultimate goal is to give students better learning conditions" - said the leader of Quynh Tam commune.
Notably, commune leaders confirmed that the locality has not organized to collect people's opinions on the removal of remote school sites, with the reason that the process does not stipulate that opinions must be collected. However, the commune has deployed propaganda and mobilization and will continue to implement it.
When reporters raised the issue that the dissolution of the school point would cause students to move further, in some cases about 10km, affecting the family's lives and currently many parents have not agreed, the commune leader said that the locality plans to organize a dialogue with the people, and invited representatives of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training to preside over.
Regarding the arrangement of the school network, in Official Dispatch No. 5208/BGDĐT-GDPT dated August 7, 2026, the Ministry of Education and Training requested that the arrangement of schools, classes, branches, and school sites must be consistent with population distribution, travel conditions, compulsory education requirements and ensure quality; not apply mechanical reduction rates.
The Ministry also requested to carefully review the consolidation in areas with difficult travel, not to let the arrangement reduce access to education, increase school distance or affect the safety of students.
