Huoi Lech Elementary Semi-Boarding School lies 39 kilometers from the center of Muong Nhe District in the mountainous commune of Huoi Lech.
For the school year of 2022-2023 that started this autumn, the school has been assigned 38 more students from neighboring Lai Chau Province, causing a lack of classrooms.
To provide students a place to study, teachers joined hands to build a bamboo shack to seat 24 students.
Teacher Ha Trung Thanh said he and his colleagues had built the shack in two days using bamboo trees from the nearby forest. They roofed the shack with two layers of canvas.
"The shack can provide shelter for students when the weather is hot or cool, but it would difficult during winter months," he said, wearing a shirt and tie as he just attended a teaching contest.
Most students at Huoi Lech Elementary Semi-Boarding School are ethnic Hmong.
Aside from the newcomers from Lai Chau, the number of students at the school has also increased this year, said Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, vice principal.
"Last year we had 18 classes, now we have 22."
Every time it rains, the makeshift classroom would flood, forcing students to wade through the mud, and teachers to dig drainage trenches.
Students attend two shifts at Huoi Lech Elementary Semi-Boarding School.
The classroom also serves as a canteen.
The main campus of Huoi Lech Elementary Semi-Boarding School.
For this year, the school has 474 students. Of them, 313 study on campus while others have to study elsewhere, including in makeshift classrooms.
VnExpress Hope Foundation intends to turn makeshift shacks like the one at Huoi Lech Commune into more solid buildings so students can have a better place to attend classes through its "Schools of Sunshine" campaign.
Readers can join hands with the foundation and improve educational facilities in disadvantaged areas.
Children during their lunch break at the classroom made of bamboo shack.
