Cash-strapped Lao Cai Province has had to halt desperately needed renovation work on schools and residential accommodation, just weeks before the new academic year begins.
Part of No 1 Pho Rang Primary School in Bao Yen District has yet to be rebuilt after it was partly demolished. Due to a shortage of funds, the district authority is building five temporary shelters to accommodate pupils.
Ma Thi Xuan, the school's principal, said the temporary shelters were poorly lit, badly ventilated and lacked heating.
She added that 160 pupils were expected to enrol at the "school" in the 2011-12 academic year.
Nguyen Thi Thuy Dao, the principal at Gia Phu No 2 Primary School in Bao Thang District, said her school would struggle to accommodate its pupils this year.
She said teachers and pupils would have to make do with four buildings earmarked for communal activities, health care and storing educational equipment and textbooks.
"We have been asking for more funding since 2004 but our request has not received a reply," Dao said.
Meanwhile, A Lu Primary School in the northern border commune of A Lu in Bat Xat District, has 20 classrooms – 60 per cent of which are constructed from bamboo and in a run-down condition.
It has 40 full-time live-in teachers who have been seconded from other schools.
But the residential accommodation for teachers and 120 pupils is barely habitable.
According to Truong Kim Minh, director of Lao Cai Province's Department of Education and Training, there are about 350 temporary classrooms in Lao Cai Province constructed of bamboo or wood, with money provided by the local district or handouts from residents.
The buildings are dank and dark and in danger of collapse.
Making matters worse, Minh said the schools most in need of repairs were based in remote inaccessible parts, making it difficult to transport construction materials.
Minh said that under the renovation project for the 2008-12 period, by last June, 1,112 classrooms and 440 residential rooms for teachers had been built or renovated – just 50 per cent of the province's target for classrooms and 20 per cent for teachers' accommodations.
He said a further VND90 billion ($4.4 million) was needed to meet the target.
Minh told Viet Nam News the province desperately needed more Government funding.
One ray of hope has come from the Japanese Government, which has offered US$250,000 to renovate two schools in Lao Cai (Gia Phu No 5 Primary School in Bao Thang District and Trinh Tuong No 2 Primary School in Bat Xat District) and one in northern Hung Yen Province. The agreement was formally signed at the Japanese embassy last Thursday.
Minh said construction would probably start early next month and should be finished by next January, before the start of the second term.
Meanwhile, Lao Cai Province is now compiling a new list of schools that need funding for renovation for the 2012-15 period.
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