(HBO) – At the end of 2018, the rate of the poor households in the north-western mountainous province of Hoa Binh is estimated at 14.74 percent, down 3.1 percent year-on-year. The result has reflected the efficiency of preferential loans for the poor.
Xa
Van Hoan, a man of the Tay ethnic minority group in Phu Son hamlet, Cao Son
commune, Da Bac district said before accessing the loans, his family had been
in the list of especially poor households in the commune. In 2012, his family
was eligible to get a loan worth 20 million VND from a programme that supports
poor households and another loan worth 8 million VND from the Vietnam Bank for
Social Policies (VBSP)’ Da Bac district branch under a programme supporting ethnic
minority households in special difficulties. With the money borrowed, his
family bought two buffalos that gave birth to two calves after nearly one year.
In 2015 Hoan’s family paid back the due debt and borrowed another 30 million
VND to invest in animal husbandry. Currently, his family has five buffaloes.

With preferential loans from the VBSP,
poor households in Cao Son commune (Da Bac district) have invested in buffalo
breeding, gradually getting rid of poverty and stabilising their lives.
Hoan’s family is one of the more than 90,000 others in the province which have surpassed
the poverty line after 15 years since the preferential loans were offered in
the province.
As of late November, 9,582 households had accessed loans totaling over 303
billion VND, with more than 256 billion VND already paid back. Total loan
outstanding balance exceeded 922 billion VND, with 31,851 debtors.
Local Party committees and authorities need to pay more attention to vocational
training and agriculture and forestry expansion in order to optimise the preferential
loans, helping accelerate poverty reduction in the province.
In recent times, Da Bac district has paid attention to implementing gender equality work for the advancement of women. The role and position of women in the family and society have been affirmed, making an important contribution to the socio-economic development of the locality.
Despite being situated in remote and underprivileged areas, schools like Tan Dan Kindergarten in Tan Thanh commune, Mai Chau district, have reaped the benefits of digital transformation tools and applications, thanks to support from the education and training sector.
The flower and ornamental plant market for the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival across Hoa Binh province is becoming more vibrant.
On January 18th, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the results of the national exam for excellent students in 2024-2025 school year of 2024-2025.
In the afternoon of January 15th, at the Industrial Park of the Left Bank of Da River, the Trade Union of the Provincial Industrial Parks organized the program "Reunion Tet – the Spring Being Grateful to the Party” in 2025.
On January 9th, the Department of Education and Training held a conference to summarize the school year of 2024, reviewing the semester I and deploy tasks for 2025, semester II of the 2024-2025 school year. There was the attendance of Mr. Nguyen Van Chuong, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.