All-out for "60 days and nights" border campaign

Party Central Committee member, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and Chairman of the City People's Committee Nguyen Khac Toan personally praised the officers and soldiers for their strong sense of responsibility

Sweat poured on the construction site

Heading up National Highway 49 toward the border, the construction site of the A Luoi 4 Multi-level School resembles a massive, sleepless workshop these days. The roar of concrete mixers, the rhythmic pounding of hammers against formwork, and the grinding of excavator tracks tearing through rock and soil echo across the entire valley.

The A Luoi 4 Multi-level Primary and Lower Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities is a key regional project, spanned across nearly 5 hectares with a total investment of over 240 billion VND. Upon completion, the facility will accommodate and educate over 1.300 students, including 200 high-hardship boarders. According to the plan, the project must cross the finish line before July 30, 2026.

However, months after groundbreaking, persistent jungle rains coupled with local shortages of construction materials in the highlands have bottlenecked the project. By mid-June 2026, actual construction progress had only reached around 65%. Looking at the colossal mountain of remaining work—with dozens of components ranging from the administration building and classrooms to the cafeteria—the September opening goal seemed virtually impossible.

Faced with this urgent situation, the Municipal Military Command issued a deployment order, dispatching over 100 officers and soldiers from Regiment 6 and other units to launch a swift march to the border on June 12 to rescue the project's progress.

At 10 a.m., the outdoor temperature at the site spiked past 39 degrees Celsius. Heat from the concrete blocks slammed directly into faces with a searing burn, yet no one left their post. At the three-story classroom block currently undergoing wall construction and plastering, the figures of blue-shirted workers mingled with the faded olive-green uniforms of the soldiers. Their backs were drenched, their shirts stuck fast to skin. Hands accustomed to holding guns on the training field, now coarse and caked with cement dust, deftly laid each brick and leveled perfectly straight rows of mortar with their trowels.

Officers and soldiers on the sun-baked construction site

Standing on high scaffolding, Sergeant Tran Van Kiet (a soldier from Battalion 1, Regiment 6) wiped away a stream of sweat trickling into his eyes and shared: 'When we first arrived, my comrades and I were completely out of our depth with bricklaying and ironwork, and the fierce border sun was a shock to the system. But thinking of the highland children wading through mud to get to school with soiled clothes, we told each other to press on. Just imagining the day they have a spacious, sturdy new school to study in encourages us to stay grounded and push through any hardship to get the job done.'

Dream of literacy

The arrival of the military uniforms has breathed new life into the construction site. Mr. Ho Huu Phu, Deputy Director of the Regional Project Management Unit 2, stated: 'The military's timely reinforcement during this finishing phase is invaluable. The soldiers' discipline, endurance, and unwavering spirit have driven contractors to accelerate together. Currently, we are coordinating closely to ensure round-the-clock construction to make up for previous delays.'

Not far from the site's fence, under the cool shade of trees near the entrance to Cur Xo village, local residents quietly watch the bustling pace inside. For the people here, this multi-level school is the dream of a life-changing future for their children. Ho Thi Don, 34, a resident of Cur Xo village living adjacent to the A Luoi 4 construction site, held her young son's hand—who enters fourth grade this year—her eyes fixed on the wheelbarrows loaded with mortar rolling back and forth.

When asked about the ongoing school construction, the young mother’s eyes lit up with joy: 'Our villagers have been counting down the days for this school. We are poor; years ago, my oldest child had to trek miles through the forest to get to school, and during the rainy season, classes were skipped because the rising river water was too dangerous. Hearing the officials say that the school will provide boarding accommodations for children from afar, and that it's built sturdy enough to withstand storms, the villagers were moved to tears. Seeing the soldiers working day and night, braving the scorching sun, everyone is deeply grateful. We just hope the school is completed soon so our children can start learning.'

"Green-shirted builders"on the construction site

Ho Thi Don’s joy mirrors the shared longing of hundreds of families along this border stretch. The rise of the new school means that the journey to education for Pa Co and Co Tu children will be paved with fewer hardships and obstacles.

Command from the heart   

For the soldiers, participating in this '60-day-and-night' campaign is more than just a duty—it has become a command from the heart. Captain Ngo Van Luc, Deputy Political Commander of Battalion 1, who is directly stationed at the school construction front, shared: 'The unit conducted ideological education, building a high sense of responsibility for 100% of our officers and soldiers before departure. We define this as a political mission, a gesture of solidarity directed toward the borderlands. With youthful vigor and absolute solidarity, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the contractors to accelerate day by day, determined to bring the project across the finish line on schedule to serve the students as soon as possible.'

During a recent unannounced on-site inspection, Nguyen Khac Toan—Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, and Chairman of the Municipal People's Committee—personally praised the high sense of responsibility demonstrated by the officers and soldiers. The Chairman affirmed that this is an exceptionally important social welfare, educational, and national defense project in the border area. At the same time, he urged departments, the project owner, and contractors to make extraordinary efforts and coordinate closely with the military to actively respond to the peak emulation campaign: '40 Days and Nights of Acceleration to the Finish Line.'

The Chairman of the Municipal People's Committee emphasized: 'Units must concentrate all human resources and equipment, organizing construction in a scientific and aggressive manner to complete the project before July 30. The timeline is extremely tight, but project quality must be the top priority—absolutely no rushing that leads to sloppy work. We must stay close to the field and proactively resolve bottlenecks to ensure zero disruptions to construction.'

In just a short time, a spacious multi-level school will stand proud amidst the vast forests. This will not only serve as a modern learning environment for over 1,300 ethnic minority children but also as a warm communal home where boarding students can thrive and live with peace of mind.

Under the late afternoon sun, the shadows of the soldiers on the A Luoi 4 construction site still stretch long across the newly built brick walls. That image once again marks the noble qualities of 'Uncle Ho’s Soldiers' in peacetime—those who are always present in the most difficult places when the People need them.

"The drops of sweat falling today do more than just guarantee the project's progress—they contribute to further tightening the close 'fish-and-water' relationship between the military and the people, laying a rock-solid foundation for the all-people border defense in the nation's frontier."