Provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, especially Kien Giang, have invested heavily in schools, housing for teachers, and dormitories for students, especially of ethnic minority groups. Dinh Hoa Secondary School in the province's disadvantaged Go Quao District, where 66.5% of students are ethnic Khmer, for instance, received nearly VND1 billion ($47,610) for building a computer room and laboratory and buying equipment. A similar amount was received for building new classrooms and toilets, Pham Van Ut, the school's principal, said. The Ethnic Boarding School in Chau Thanh District is one of five ethnic schools in the province to get assistance from the province. Every year the school admits nearly 200-250 ethnic students from the districts of Chau Thanh, An Minh, An Bien, Vinh Thuan, and U Minh Thuong. It teaches ethnic language in addition to Vietnamese. Ly Hoa, its principal, said the authorities provided funds to build two more rooms for teachers and a canteen in the 2012-13 school year. Speaking to visiting Ministry of Education and Training officials last Thursday, Nguyen Thi Minh Giang, head of the province education department, said Kien Giang has 610 schools with 323,000 students. Of them, ethnic students account for 38,474, she said. The number of dropouts was down this year at all levels compared to last year, she said. The province still has 60 communes and wards without kindergartens, and has to "borrow" 419 classrooms at primary schools, she said. The ministry should allocate more funds to the province for building kindergartens in these places, she said, and tweak policies to attract teachers to island communes. Kien Giang has 15 island communes of which seven are remote and face shortages of basic amenities like water and electricity, she said to explain why island schools find it very difficult to hire teachers. (Vietnam News Mar 12)
