From Na Loi to the story of Tuong Duong
At the beginning of 2026, two 8th grade female students of Na Loi Ethnic Minority Boarding Secondary School, Na Loi commune dropped out of school before completing the secondary school program, related to the custom of "kidnapping wives" in the locality. After grasping the incident, the Nghe An Department of Education coordinated with the school, government and family to propagate and mobilize. After that, the two female students returned to school to continue studying. The story in Na Loi shows that for many mountainous students, dropping out of school does not simply come from the intention to drop out of school, but behind it there are also reasons related to family circumstances, economic conditions, awareness and customs.
Mr. Kha Van Lap - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Tuong Duong commune, Nghe An province - said that entering the 2026-2027 school year, the locality is particularly interested in maintaining the number of students and reducing dropouts. "Each dropout student must be seen as a case that needs to be concerned, not just a number in the report" - Mr. Kha Van Lap said.
In the 2025-2026 school year, the whole of Tuong Duong commune has 25 secondary school students dropping out of school, 21 secondary school students continuing to grade and 19 elementary school students continuing to grade. The main reasons are difficult family economic circumstances, parents working far away, limited awareness of a part of parents and difficult travel conditions in some villages.
Tuong Duong has a large area, dispersed population, many villages far from the center, ethnic minority students account for more than 74% at both primary and secondary school levels.
Therefore, right from the beginning of the school year, schools are required to review students at risk of dropping out of school, grasp the circumstances of each student to coordinate with families, hamlets, villages and mass organizations to have timely support measures. According to Mr. Kha Van Lap, students in difficult circumstances cannot only be mobilized verbally but need to find specific solutions, creating conditions for them to continue going to school.
Keeping students from the heart of a teacher
Dr. Nguyen Van Khoa - Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training - said that due to difficult family circumstances, students still drop out of school in some mountainous schools every year. Nghe An Education sector has repeatedly directed schools to coordinate with localities to actively propagate, mobilize and support students to stay at school. In difficult areas, teachers must regularly grasp the thoughts and circumstances of students, even go to their homes to find out the reasons when they are abnormally absent from school.
Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office of Nghe An Department of Education and Training - said that the situation of early marriage in school age in mountainous areas is currently only isolated. According to Mr. Hoan, the Education sector continues to coordinate with local authorities and functional agencies to propagate and mobilize students and parents, contributing to preventing early marriage and limiting students dropping out of school. For the Nghe An Education sector, the goal is not only to mobilize a student who has dropped out of school to return to class, but more importantly, to detect early risks to support them before they have to leave school.
