Cao Phong district’s Boarding Middle and High School for Ethnic Minorities (Photo: Ngoc Anh)

In its first academic year, the school had two secondary classes with a total of 60 pupils. By the 2022-2023 academic year, it had 8 middle school classes and 3 high school classes with a total of 290 pupils.

Principal and teacher Tran Quang Tuan said, “Our pupils are mostly Muong children from remote, isolated areas. State incentive policies enabled them to study here. Many of them have achieved excellent academic results and have gone on to tertiary education.”

Principal and teacher Tran Quang Tuan (Photo: Ngoc Anh)

95% of the pupils here are of minority groups, and the rest are Kinh. They are provided with school supplies and a few personal items.

Trinh Huong Giang, a Muong pupil, said, “We study in a spacious school and are given free books and school supplies. In the future, I want to be a tour guide so I can introduce my hometown to people from all over the world.”

The school pays attention to extracurricular activities, says Principal Tran Quang Tuan. 

“We’ve organized clubs for the pupils, such as the Club to preserve Muong cultural identity, where they speak the Muong language and play traditional Muong musical instruments. Boarding students live far from home, so we regularly organize social activities to help them develop mentally.”

As the pupils live far from home, the teachers have to give them parental attention,  care for them, and help them with teenage problems.

“The teachers advise and encourage them as their fathers and mothers would. All our teachers know the pupils’ language. It makes us happy to see them maturing day by day, physically, mentally, and emotionally,” Vice Principal and teacher Dao Thu Ha said.

Teachers and pupils in the library of Cao Phong district’s boarding school. (Photo: Ngoc Anh)

In the 2013-2014 school year, the school was awarded a Certificate of Merit by Hoa Binh province’s People's Committee for ranking second among the local ethnic boarding schools.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, the Cao Phong District Education Encouragement Association awarded the school a Certificate of Merit for its outstanding achievements in the movement to promote learning.

Cao Phong district’s Boarding Middle and High School for Ethnic Minorities was recognized by Hoa Binh province as a national standard school.