Lai Chau (VNA) - Today, Ly Chuy Go, a seventh grader at the Pa Ve Su EthnicBoarding School in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau’s Muong Tedistrict and his schoolmates are eager to return to school after the weekend.

It is a 7kmstretch from his house, so Chuy Go and his friends have to depart from home on Sundayafternoon to get to school on time for the new week.

For Chuy Goand his friends, travelling from home to their school is a difficult one.However, being aware of the importance of learning, they have now overcome thedifficulty.

“Despite thelong distance from home, I still want to go to school and learn how to become ahelpful man,” Ly Chuy Go said.

There havealways been a number of challenges facing learners on their climb to success.However, these difficulties are incrementally harder for children in remote anddisadvantaged areas.

Pa Ve Su isa particularly disadvantaged commune of the border district of Muong Te. It ismainly home to Mang and La Hu ethnic people. The commune has a high povertyrate, up to 90 percent, with low perceptions of the importanceof education being a significantbarrier, hindering children from going to school.

Teacher QuachThi Dieu at Pa Ve Su Ethnic Boarding School said in the early days, her classwas so empty, with only one student. However, the school’s teachers met with parentsand convinced them to let their children go to school. The number of students attendingclasses eventually started rising day after day.

“The schoolhas already had students taking part in district-level exams for the gifted.That was one of our greatest achievements as a school,” Dieu said.

In the2017-2018 academic year, Muong Te district had nearly half (24 out of 51) ofits schools as boarding schools. The support from local authorities has gonehand in hand with the passion and care of teachers, factors that have motivatedthe students to continue with their formal education, despite the distinctchallenges.

Ly My Ly, headof Education and Training Department of Muong Te district, said the gap ineducational provision between disadvantaged and more privileged areas has beennarrowing in recent years, with infrastructure for teaching and learning atminority ethnic schools seeing some significant upgrades.

She said inrecent years, policies on education to facilitate students of ethnic groups,such as Cong, Mang, and La Hu have been introduced. More attention has beenpaid to improving the quality of teaching and learning.-VNA