Farm School - What legal framework is needed for this new model?

DNHN - The addition and completion of the legal framework for the Farm School model is necessary to help this model operate stably and avoid negative transformations that affect the investment and business environment.

Development trend of “Farm School”

Farm School (school-farm) is not a new type that first appeared in Vietnam, but it has been around for more than a decade. The initial starting point of this model was from some primary schools in highland areas utilizing vacant land next to the school to grow vegetables and raise chickens to improve the daily meals for teachers, while also creating a more practical educational space for children, which yielded clear benefits in life skills and experiences instead of just learning through books.

Recognizing these benefits could improve the living experiences for children in big cities, where they are surrounded daily by four walls and electronic devices, many investors have sought agricultural and forestry land in suburban areas, combining with educational complexes to form farmstays with short-term accommodation services and direct life skills education activities for children.

Later models also updated their development and organization methods from similar models in countries like Japan and the UK, combining learning and practical experiences. Among them, the two educational methods of Montessori and STEAM are seen by many Farm School complexes as the foundation for building their activity programs, in collaboration with schools from kindergarten, primary, even secondary and high schools.

The benefits of the Farm School models demonstrate the ability to create a learning environment close to nature, where children can learn to plant trees, catch fish, and take care of animals. This not only helps children understand the natural environment but also develop practical skills. Additionally, applying advanced educational methods such as Montessori and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) in organizing classes has been proven to help children develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Moreover, this model also instills good habits in children according to Sean Covey's methods, helping them develop comprehensively in knowledge, physical health, and mental well-being.

Currently, with the trend of widespread industrialization and urbanization, leading to long-term planning projects, many agricultural land plots are left abandoned, waterlogged, causing severe environmental pollution and waste. Developing Farm Schools in many localities also addresses the community value problem, contributing to improving the quality of education and training activities.

Observations show that, in nearly a decade since its inception and flourishing with hundreds of centers present across the country (especially many in some localities such as Hanoi, Hoa Binh, Thai Nguyen, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Lam Dong, Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City...), the models are mainly spontaneous in the form of family-run enterprises. Only in the past few years have large organizations started to announce their participation in developing this model, typically Cen Group with the Cen X World project being implemented on Ngoc Island, (Dai Lai - Vinh Phuc).

This shows the demand and great potential of the HomeStay, FarmStay, and Farm School models, which are of interest to many families and investors. However, research on this model currently shows it is severely lacking a legal framework, leading to the risk of transformation and management risks in localities.

During many visits to community tourism and agricultural sites in the Northwest or Central regions, we found that they are all spontaneous models. Local authorities want to encourage but lack the legal basis, and local people want to develop but easily violate regulations because these models are all built on agricultural land, difficult to plan for conversion to commercial, service land, and lack a legal framework to complete clear procedures according to the law.

Difficulties in converting to commercial, service land are evident in the farms of local households whose main activity is still agricultural production (as they must first comply with land use regulations), most local Homestays currently developed from the garden, house of the locals themselves. Not to mention, when transferring, there will be issues and extra-legal agreements: transferring an asset with a different function than the name in the state-issued land use right certificate.

That is the perspective of the land origin related to the above models. Additionally, "Farm School" involves educational and training risks. In fact, in the reform of the general education program to improve comprehensive education quality issued by the Ministry of Education and Training through Circular No. 32/2018/TT-BGDĐT in 2018, the Farm School model is also encouraged for development. Later, Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW dated June 16, 2022; Prime Minister's Decision No. 263/QĐ-TTg: Approving the National Target Program for New Rural Development in the 2021-2025 period, and the Prime Minister's Decision No. 919/QĐ-TTg on August 1, 2022, included Farm School in the list of economic models encouraged for development in localities, associated with the national target program for new rural development.

However, to date, due to unclear planning and legal framework, and undefined responsibility scope for organizations and individuals to properly implement when building facilities combining agricultural production, training, and eco-tourism, people easily "hybridize" into other forms. Additionally, there is a lack of monitoring and periodic evaluation mechanisms to ensure "Farm Schools" operate effectively and achieve the educational goals set. For these models, standards of educational quality, hygiene safety, and environmental protection must be prioritized.

Leveraging agricultural strengths to form ecological, green farms, serving the "farm to table" sustainable program combined with training and resort tourism, utilizing poor, abandoned, polluted land to develop projects to improve land use efficiency and "free up" people is a right direction that needs encouragement. However, without good management orientation, it will pose risks of transforming land use purposes, disrupting regional planning and land use plans.

Currently, the land for family and individual experience farms is usually agricultural or forest land. It can be said that this is a mixed-use of land on agricultural land. The current land law does not provide for planning, land use plans for mixed-use land on agricultural land. This easily leads to violations of regulations on land use purpose conversion; conditions for conversion, transfer of land use rights.

Urgent need for additional necessary regulations

The 2018 Tourism Law provides for community participation and responsibility in tourism development, thus revealing the "gap" between this regulation and the Land Law. Therefore, local communities have long been assessed by localities as quite passive in participating in tourism activities. We still see the reasons as training methods, blaming general infrastructure, or blaming short-term thinking of the people.

When it comes to what to do to promote the role of the people towards sustainable development, localities all say that a systematic approach is needed. However, we forget that the root of the problem is infrastructure, specifically here is the "land fund" for infrastructure: When infrastructure is not "named", everything that follows cannot become a strategy and may even create legal risks for the people.

Both the Education Law and the Tourism Law address this issue, and the Tourism Law explicitly stipulates the scope of regulation related to state management of tourism resources, tourism product development, and tourism activities, but does not include the construction and formation, development of tourism infrastructure land funds and tourism resources.

The good news is that the revised Land Law of 2024, effective from August 1, 2024, provides a legal framework for the use of land for educational purposes and community development. In particular, the law stipulates the expansion of the limit for receiving land use rights, "freeing up" agricultural land, and regulations on managing and using land for multi-purpose, including agricultural land combined with commerce and services.

This is one of the important legal bases to ensure the sustainable development of the "Farm School" model and similar models mentioned above, creating jobs and livelihoods for rural people, solving the problem of abandoned fields and environmental pollution. The remaining issue lies in the guiding regulations to clearly identify land types for tourism service business, avoiding conflicts with the interests of other land types and other business entities.

Besides, I propose that the state should prioritize planning the "Farm School" model because it has both experiential tourism significance and educational and training significance for children, community benefits, and an inevitable social trend in the future. It is necessary to create conditions for people with agricultural land, low productivity, abandoned or polluted areas to be prioritized for this model's development. Besides, people and investors will also have to be bound by commitments not to transform business purposes like other commercial real estate types such as housing and resort real estate.

Of course, besides, it is also necessary to consider introducing financial support policies such as land use fee exemption, land rent, and tax incentives for organizations and individuals investing in the "Farm School" model. This will create favorable conditions for developing and expanding the model on a large scale.

For the Farm School model, I believe there should be strict regulations on supporting the training of teachers and staff working in "Farm Schools". In-depth training programs on experiential education, farm management, and skills working with children need to be seriously built and implemented, with supervision and assessment from specialized organizations both domestically and internationally.

The final point, in my opinion, is to facilitate public-private partnership models in developing "Farm School". Policies encouraging the participation of enterprises and social organizations in investing and managing these educational projects need to be issued.

Dr. Tran Xuan Luong - Deputy Director of the Institute of Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation of Vietnam – Vietnam Association of Real Estate Brokers (VARS)