A secondary school in a mountainous district of the central province of Quang Ngai has suddenly become famous countrywide, simply because it has a restroom that cost nearly US$30,000 to build.

Long Hiep Secondary School, located in Minh Long District, would have remained unknown to the rest of the country if an inspectorate team from the province’s local government had not discovered that its new restroom is worth an enormous VND600 million, or $28,846.

The small facility, spanning only 29 square meters, was put into use in March as part of a drive for better hygiene and clean water invested by the province’s Department of Education and Training.

The expense for such a small bathroom is incredible, members of the inspectorate team said.

“It’s of course necessary to have an adequate lavatory for students and teachers, but VND600 million is too big an investment for a remote school like Long Hiep,” said Truong Thi Xuan Hong, deputy chairwoman of the province’s People’s Council.

Other facilities at the school, meanwhile, have deteriorated and are in bad condition, while the students do not have enough computers for their lessons in the informatics courses, according to the council.

“Half of the 12 computers in the computer lab, built in 2003, are broken, while we have no labs for the biology and chemistry classes,” school master Vo Van Vinh said.

The principal has called on the education department for help, and what the school received is the costly restroom, Vinh added.

Contrasting picture

Tuoi Tre reporters visited Long Hiep to check out the facility, after the school made headlines over the last few days.

The expensive restroom is located in a school whose the main gate is nearly collapsed, while the classrooms, built 13 years ago, are covered with moss and the old furniture is in poor condition.

Long Hiep has a total of 170 students in grades six to nine.

The schoolyard is full of dust in the dry season, and floods when it rains, a school official said.

Despite the huge investment, the bathroom is seemingly made of normal materials, and is low-quality.

Several urinals in the men’s room are stained and leak water.

Surprisingly enough, the women’s room is equipped with squat toilets, and there are no doors at all.

Most of the equipment in the facility is from unknown manufacturers.

The facility, as described above, was evaluated by a constructor as costing no more than one third of VND600 million.

An official in charge of equipment at the district’s education office said primary and secondary schools in the area are usually granted VND50 to 70 million to build a new restroom.

“The sum never exceeds VND100 million,” he said.

Responsibility denied

The district’s education office said the VND600 million toilet project is business between the school and the education department.

“The department directly invested in the facility, so we have no idea about the issue,” the head of the office, Nguyen Van Cang, said.

Meanwhile, Ngo Huu Dang, director of the construction management board of the department, said the project is under the national program for hygiene and clean water initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Asked if VND600 million is too much for a 29-square-meter toilet, Dang confirmed that total expenses were as high as VND593 billion.

“They include construction, water supply, pumping equipment, consultancy, and other expenses,” he said.

The bathroom was built based on the model required by the education ministry, given the number of students, he added.

Dang added that the project was carried out without inviting bids to choose contractors.

“The education department assigned the Vinh Dat construction company, based in Son Tinh District, to carry out the project,” he said.