Looking at the inter-level boarding schools that are gradually taking shape from Dien Bien, Lang Son to the southern border provinces, it can be seen that these are soft "milestones", marking the moment when knowledge, opportunities and the future are sown on lands once considered remote and isolated.
When students are provided with food and accommodation and study in stable conditions, they no longer have to cross forests and streams for dozens of kilometers to go to class, and no longer have to drop out of school due to family circumstances. More importantly, they have the opportunity to study continuously and systematically, thereby forming a new generation with knowledge, skills and the ability to be attached to their own homeland.
A notable point in the construction of schools in border areas is the clear change in thinking. If previously, many policies for mountainous areas were supportive, solving immediate difficulties, now the approach has shifted to long-term investment. Schools are built on a large scale, with synchronous design, with dormitories, functional areas, and even bringing STEM and AI into teaching.
This shows that the goal of education in border areas now is no longer limited to eradicating illiteracy or maintaining the number of students attending classes, but shortening the development gap between mountainous and plain areas by the quality of education itself.
When a border student has access to STEM classrooms, with new technology, opportunities are distributed more fairly, remote lands can also become places to produce quality human resources for the locality and for the whole country.
Investing in schools in border areas is also a form of investment in security from the root. A solid border is not only based on security forces, but also on a community with knowledge, stable livelihoods and belief in the future.
Of course, for these projects to be effective in the long term and sustainably, from now on, localities must think about solutions to the very difficult problem of operating and organizing boarding school life for students, attracting and retaining teachers... If these problems are not solved, schools, no matter how spacious, can become wasteful.
A school built on the border at this moment will be the beginning of dreams, opportunities and a different future for children in the highlands. And when those dreams are nurtured long enough, persistently enough, the border will be preserved by the very people who have grown up from today's classrooms, from generation to generation.
