HCMC addresses parental concerns over cross ward school allocations

The 2026-2027 academic year marks the very first time HCMC is conducting entry-level admissions after a full year of rearranging administrative units and operating a two-tier local government. Boasting the largest population scale in the country, the city faces numerous challenges in adequately resolving the massive demand for school placements for its residents.

Pinpointing the roots of recent inadequacies in school allocations at entry-level, Deputy Director Nguyen Van Phong of the HCMC Education and Training Department shared three identified reasons.

First is the rampant spread of misinformation across social media. Online groups circulated highly inaccurate information regarding allocation results, inadvertently causing parents to misunderstand the situation and massively gather at local committees to demand immediate adjustments. Facing this chaotic predicament, the Department of Education and Training requested the HCMC Public Security Department to strictly handle this distorted information in cyberspace.

Secondly, a specific segment of parents still hasn’t grasped the stringent student allocation regulations. HCMC must simultaneously guarantee two objectives of allowing students to study near their residences while strictly ensuring schools meet their designated quotas. Consequently, for the 2026-2027 academic year, the sprawling city is allocating students with remarkable flexibility, completely bypassing rigid administrative boundaries.

To harmoniously balance enrollment quotas, local authorities might occasionally place a student into a facility that doesn’t perfectly match the family’s initial aspiration; however, the commuting distance remains highly convenient.

The third prominent factor boils down to glaring errors made while declaring addresses on the digital system. It appears several parents inputted inaccurate addresses, inevitably leading the GIS mapping system to incorrectly pinpoint their actual locations.

To effectively resolve this, the municipal Education and Training Department actively mobilized school staff to help committees evaluate dossiers and provide thorough consultations. Up to now, the situation has successfully stabilized, allowing parents to feel completely assured.

One of the highly novel aspects of this year’s entry-level admissions is prioritizing the student’s “current residence” rather than strictly adhering to rigid administrative boundaries like wards or communes. However, stark reality demonstrates that the coordination between various localities remains remarkably sluggish and deeply passive. The Deputy Director has introduced feasible solutions for this issue.

Regarding intricate coordination among local committees during “cross-ward” admissions, the HCMC Education and Training Department acknowledges that actual implementation reveals obvious disparities. While some areas coordinate exceptionally well, others remain confused and hopelessly passive throughout the complex student allocation process.

A handful of jurisdictions have birthed highly specific difficulties. For instance, wards in the former Binh Tan District endure immense class-size pressures fueled by towering population density. Meanwhile, wards like Tan Son and Phu Thuan completely lack a junior high school on their home area, causing coordination with neighboring wards to hit far more stumbling blocks compared to other regions.

Faced with that harsh reality, the Department actively organized meetings to unify a pragmatic approach with authorities. They strongly reminded all wards to never discriminate, strictly ensuring a study placement for all students.

However, in the end, the education sector deeply hopes citizens can empathetically share the burden of these hardships. This is the very first year executing the admission rollout following a massive rearrangement of administrative boundaries.

Previously, district admission councils boasted comprehensive historical data. This year, because wards are shouldering this monumental task for the first time within a compressed timeframe, they simply can’t avoid initial bewilderment and desperately require time to get the ball rolling. Moving forward, the Department will relentlessly monitor feedback to provide suitable guidance.

Vigorously promoting digital transformation applications, like GIS mapping and a unified city-wide portal, reportedly helps make the admission process remarkably transparent. However, online enrollment undeniably exposed numerous lingering inadequacies such as severe network congestion, frustrating registration errors, and discrepancies heavily fueled by parents inputting completely inaccurate data. This ultimately triggered allocation results that simply didn’t align with stark reality.

In reality, the vast majority of adjusted cases directly stem from local committees’ supportive spirit whenever they retain available quotas. This represents a highly pragmatic flexibility dedicated to safeguarding students’ core interests, rather than a botched allocation.

As for parents stubbornly refusing to confirm their online enrollment, it’s largely driven by consuming inaccurate information on social media, inevitably fostering unnecessary hesitation. To conquer these limitations next year, alongside upgrading technical infrastructure, the HCMC Education and Training Department will synchronously roll out four focal solutions:

1. Final-year schools, particularly at the kindergarten level, must rigorously review residential information and secure parental confirmation to minimize input data errors;
2. Wards must determinedly enhance propaganda targeting citizens regarding procedures, ensuring parents correctly comprehend the situation;
3. The Department will extensively evaluate this year’s results to draw invaluable lessons and adjust allocation strategies;
4. The Department will robustly coordinate with the HCMC Public Security Department to decisively thwart distorted information, guaranteeing parents always access accurate information.