For students in the highlands, due to the rugged terrain and difficult economic conditions, their journey to school also faces many hardships and challenges. To bring knowledge to those remote villages, the authorities of Yen Bai province pay special attention to education in the highlands and disadvantaged areas, with many humane policies to support students, especially boarding students in highland schools, so that they have the conditions to go to school. From there, the highland districts have maintained the number of students attending class, improving the quality of education in ethnic boarding schools.

At Ban Cong Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Tram Tau District, 100% of the students are Mong ethnic minority children from 5 villages and hamlets of Ban Cong Commune. The farthest village is nearly 20 kilometers from the school, so being supported with lunch money and having meals at the school has made it easier for the students to not have to travel much, to rest right at school, helping them have better health to study.

Student Mua Thi Giang - Grade 7, Ban Cong Primary and Secondary Boarding School, Tram Tau District shared: "Lunch at school has many dishes, chicken, ham or pork, eating at school is much more delicious than eating at home. I really like going to school and eating at school."

Ban Cong Ethnic Boarding Primary and Secondary School has 665 students. Of which, nearly 100 students are supported with centralized lunch money according to Resolution 38 of the Yen Bai Provincial People's Council. This is a resolution stipulating a number of policies to support the development of education and training in Yen Bai province from the 2023-2024 school year to the end of the 2025-2026 school year. In which, centralized lunch money is supported for students studying 2 sessions/day at the ethnic boarding school but are not yet eligible for the policy according to Decree No. 116 of the Government.

Ms. Ha Thi Thanh Son - Principal of Ban Cong Ethnic Boarding Primary and Secondary School said: Thanks to the policy of supporting students, the school's attendance rate has increased. We feel that the policy of supporting students is very practical and reasonable, when students attend school regularly, the quality of education at the school has improved.

If in previous years, the attendance rate of Phinh Ho Ethnic Boarding Primary and Secondary School was only about 80%, since Resolution No. 38 supporting lunch money for students, this rate has increased to over 98%. Currently, the whole school has 424 students, of which 231 students enjoy the boarding regime according to Decree 116 of the Government and over 200 students enjoy the regime according to Resolution 38 of the Provincial People's Council.

Mr. Nguyen Duy Tien - Principal of Phinh Ho Ethnic Boarding Primary and Secondary School said: Since the province's support policy, the rate of students going to school has increased significantly, often reaching over 98%. In particular, the rate of students going to school in the morning, coming home for lunch and resting in the afternoon is no longer.

In the 2023-2024 school year, Tram Tau district has over 1,300 students enjoying policies under Resolution 38 with a total budget of nearly 800 million VND, of which 940 are primary school students and 379 are secondary school students.

It can be seen that the policy of supporting centralized lunch money for students studying 2 sessions/day according to Resolution 38 of the People's Council of Yen Bai province is a practical policy, rich in humanity, creating fairness, helping students who are ethnic minorities, children of poor households, and those in especially difficult circumstances have better learning conditions. Thereby, creating a strong change in improving the quality of education in mountainous areas, contributing to reducing the gap in education quality between disadvantaged and favorable areas, towards sustainable development of mountainous education.