mud covers the classroom, tables and chairs are scattered
On the morning of August 1, sharing with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Tran Gia Thao - Principal of Muong tip 2 Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Muong Tap Commune, in the border area of Nghe An Province bordering Laos) - said that the school suffered very heavy damage due to floods.
After the historic flood at the end of July, floodwaters flooded into the school grounds, rose high and receded, leaving behind a huge amount of mud. Many classrooms, boarding houses, dining houses, and schoolyards were covered in mud up to half a meter thick.
Not only that, garbage, rotten trees, rotten wood, broken bricks and tiles were also piled up by the water. Some rooms are skewed, cracked, corrugated iron roofs are blown off, doors are broken, many points are at risk of being unsafe.
"We were stunned when we returned to school. The student desks and chairs were overturned and buried deep in mud. Learning tools, kitchen appliances, blankets, rice cookers, bowls of chopsticks... are covered with folds, broken or lost. Almost nothing is intact" - Mr. Thao choked up.
According to initial statistics, the school's damage is estimated at 1.8 billion VND - a figure that is beyond imagination for a school in the border area that is already lacking.
Worrying about boarding students
The difficulties piled up when the team to overcome the consequences was composed entirely of teachers, school staff and the urgent support of the army. For many days, teachers and border officers and soldiers have worn raincoats, boots, and used their hands to remove tung piece of mud, scooped up buckets of soil, and washed each pot and bowl in the fragrant mud.
In classrooms, the mud was so thick that shovels had to be used on each large platform, many places with concrete floors were covered, making cleaning almost impossible. Some female teachers cried while cleaning up because they felt sorry for the students and their efforts to rebuild the school roof that was swept away by the flood.
"The school is devastated, the school year is coming. We don't know how to handle it to welcome students. Students traveling in mountainous areas have already suffered, now if they do not have boarding, they are at very high risk of dropping out of school" - Mr. Thao worried.
Muong tip 2 Primary School is a bright spot in the boarding school model - where hundreds of students from Mongolia, Kho Mu, and Thai people study and stay for free. This model helps reduce dropouts and maintain the rate of special needs in remote areas.
"We sincerely hope the community will join hands to help restore this school. Not only the facilities, but the future of the students here - the principal urgently called for.
