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Official housing is an important living place for officials, teachers, and employees in the education sector, especially in schools far from the centers of districts, towns, and cities. However, some teachers in the province are still using degraded, cramped, and inconvenient official housing. The need for official housing for teachers is still a necessary issue that requires attention from all levels, sectors, and the whole society.
In a house of about 20 square meters, the family of Ms. Pham Thi Hang, an English teacher at Dong Gia High School (Kim Thanh), had to arrange very cleverly to have a space in the middle of the house for her children to sit and study and eat.
Ms. Hang's husband's hometown is far away, she and her 3 children have lived in this room for 5 years. She has renovated the kitchen, ceiling... but still worries every time the rainy season comes. Ms. Hang said: "My family will stay here until this room is no longer habitable before moving elsewhere, because finding a good place to live is not easy now, then there is rent and many other expenses. Both husband and wife have low incomes, cannot buy land or build a house yet."
The staff housing for teachers at Dong Gia High School was made from the old building of Dong Gia Secondary School built in 1965. Previously, many teachers from Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces... came here to work and lived in this building. At that time, many people lived with their families, some lived there until they retired. This is where many teachers have lived for almost their entire lives. Up to now, there are only 4 families of teachers living there, many rooms are old and dilapidated, and the roofs can be blown off at any time when a storm comes.
Teacher Pham Van Ha, Principal of Dong Gia High School, said: “The row of houses has been built for more than 50 years and is no longer a safe place. The school plans to demolish the row of houses in the near future to build a multi-purpose building.”
In 2014, Thanh Mien district invested in building a block of public housing for teachers of Thanh Mien II High School with 6 spacious rooms, ensuring all necessary conditions for teachers to live and rest. Many years before, the school had a block of housing for teachers living far away, but it was degraded and was demolished in 2011.
Currently, this building has only 4 rooms that are used by teachers for lunch breaks, the rest are not used. The farthest teacher is from Ninh Giang district, 25 km from the school, some teachers from Gia Loc, Cam Giang, Binh Giang districts also take lunch breaks here. Due to the nature of their work, many days teachers teach until late at noon and then teach early in the afternoon, so they don't have time to go home. Math teacher Pham Tan Thanh of Thanh Mien II High School said: "My house is 22 km from the school, many days I teach all day. If there were no official house, I and many other colleagues would have to rest in the meeting room."
According to teacher Vu Van Tien, Vice Principal of Thanh Mien II High School, the model of public housing is still very necessary for teachers living far away. Currently, the rotation and transfer of teachers from one school to another, from one district to another for work is happening regularly. Therefore, some teachers living far away stay at school at noon. The public housing not only provides accommodation for teachers but is also used effectively during each exam period, the school will have rooms for invigilators to rest and work. "If conditions permit, we will continue to build more public rooms for teachers, purchase more furniture, and provide better resting conditions for teachers."
According to Mr. Vu Ba Ha, Chairman of the Provincial Education Trade Union, there are not many public houses for teachers in the whole province. The only old, degraded house remaining is at Dong Gia High School. The construction of public houses depends on funding and mobilizing resources from the school, but there is no investment and construction policy mechanism from the province because Hai Duong is not eligible for investment in this item. "Currently, teachers' lives and incomes are still difficult, so having public houses for teachers living far away is very good. However, this also depends on the funding of each school, not all schools can build public houses. The industry trade union has asked the school trade unions to review the lives of teachers, make a list of teachers in difficult circumstances, and propose support from the industry trade union," said Mr. Ha.
According to the reporter's research, the need for public housing for teachers living far away is still necessary in some schools. Schools need to specifically survey teachers' wishes about food and accommodation, thereby having better solutions. For schools with seriously degraded public housing, there should be solutions to repair or build new ones... Taking good care of teachers' lives is also one of the effective solutions to improve the quality of teaching, motivating teachers to stick with their profession, feel secure in their work to continue contributing to the education cause of the province.
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Content: MINH NGUYEN - THANH CHUNG
Graphics: PHUNG BAN