But the school has refused to let them return this year to comply with an order from Buon Don District, which says it’s dangerous for children to cross the river by ferry to get to school, Phuc said.

Vo Van Tam, chairman of the Buon Don District People’s Committee, explained that no ferries were allowed to operate across the 100-meter-plus wide river.

In all, 92 Con Dau children who went to various nearby schools in Buon Don are affected by the decision, said Phuc’s neighbor Vi Van Kien.

An agreement to end their schooling in Buon Don was reached with Cu Jut District, wherein Con Dau is located, according to Tam.

Although Dak Lak Province’s education department last month asked them to let the children remain at the same schools for now, they cannot give their consent for the students’ sake, Tam told Thanh Nien.

Now it’s Cu Jut District’s responsibility to find new schools for the kids, Tam said.

Cu Jut District has countered by asking their families, mostly members of the Muong ethnic minority, to move to a place with schools since it has given the land to a rubber company from the south.

Needless to say, the villagers are refusing to budge because they wouldn’t have any land for farming in Resettlement Area No. 841, their proposed new home. Anyway, they wouldn’t want their kids to walk 14 kilometers to their new schools.

“I can’t risk letting my children walk through the forests to school in the resettlement area, which is 14 kilometers away,” Phuc said. “And if I took them on my motorbike every day, who would do the farming to earn our keep?”

Cao Thi Hang, deputy head of Cu Jut’s education department, said the district had planned to build a temporary classroom for first, second and third graders in the hamlet, while older children would attend school in the resettlement area and the district center.

“Yet, after we appointed a principal, no one came to enroll their children,” she said.

Reported by Tran Ngoc Quyen