HCMC strives to build more schools to satisfy demand for education

However, many local administrations are worried that the set targets are hardly achieved due to the pressure of mechanical population growth and many difficulties and obstacles in terms of capital, site clearance, and land fund.

Sixth grader Nguyen Van Dung was so excited to study in the new To Ngoc Van Secondary School in District 12 telling his mom that the school is so big and beautiful. In the same mood, sixth grader Nguyen Ngoc Tuyet at To Ngoc Van Secondary School in District 12 said that she is very interested in every corner of the school, every part of the schoolyard because it is clean and beautiful. Her mother smiled saying that when she comes home from the school every day, the little girl all talks about the new school as in the past, the sixth grader studied at an old school that was built a long time ago.

In the school year 2022-2023, District 12 has three schools inaugurated and put into use. Among them is To Ngoc Van Secondary School with spacious facilities and modern equipment, which is expected to contribute to solving school places and organizing education towards standards for about 1,800 secondary school students in Thanh Xuan Ward and neighboring wards. Chairman of the District 12 People's Committee Nguyen Van Duc said that three schools are key projects to implement the Resolution of the District Party Committee Congress for the 2020-2025 term,

In District 3, the District 3 Kindergarten has just been inaugurated and put into use, meeting the expectations of the people in the area. According to Vice Chairman of District 3 People's Committee Vu Thi My Ngoc, over the years, the district has constantly promoted investment in building new schools, facilities, and teaching equipment.

The efforts of localities can be clearly seen in building schools and opening classes. However, in many places, especially in areas with a large population of immigrants, newly built schools have not been able to keep up with the rapidly increasing number of students each year. For example, last school year, the number of students in Binh Tan District increased dramatically.

Specifically, the district has about 122,000 students, an increase of more than 9,400 children compared to the previous school year, of which, preschool increased by more than 7,000 children. The district currently has 62 schools from preschools to junior high schools, but Binh Hung Hoa A ward alone has a population of over 120,000 but the ward has only one junior high school and three primary schools. Worse, there are no non-public schools in the ward.

Consequently, some secondary students of the ward have to study in schools in other wards. Binh Tan District People's Committee directed schools to receive all students.

The Resolution of the Thu Duc City Party Committee congress for the 2020-2025 term sets out 15 key projects to be completed in 2021, including five school construction projects and new school construction. Thu Duc City also proposed 16 key school construction projects to be started in 2021, including the upgrade and renovation of nine school projects.

Nevertheless, in the year 2020-2021, one primary school and three preschools in the southern metropolis have been built and students can study in new schools. From the beginning of 2022 until now, Thu Duc City has also been credited with medium-term capital for the period 2021-2025 for nine projects but has not yet started any more school projects.

In their Resolutions of the Party Congress, Go Vap District sets the target of building 300 new classrooms while Binh Tan District strives to build 700-1,000 new classrooms. However, up to now, nearly half of the term has passed, but many localities still have difficulties in building schools and classes as per their targets.

Similarly, in District 12, the population growth rate is very fast, and the number of students also increases year by year. Chairman of the District 12 People's Committee Nguyen Van Duc said that the demands for building schools in the district is very huge.

The Resolution of Party Congress in districts for the term 2020-2025 defines the goal of striving by 2025 to reach 300 classrooms per 10,000 people of school age. Amongst them, 80 percent of primary students while 60 percent of secondary students can learn two shifts a day. However, the district has made considerable efforts in building schools which is extremely difficult because it includes many stages from project planning, approval, compensation, site clearance, and construction investment capital.

Chairman of Binh Tan District People's Committee Nguyen Minh Nhut also acknowledged that the district is facing difficulties from a lack of funding, and projects still encounter problems in compensation and site clearance. It is expected that the district will continue to start construction of 10 more schools with 286 classrooms in 2023.

The district will also focus on site clearance and compensation work to soon build one more kindergarten and one more primary school as planned. Along with that, five new school construction projects with 152 classrooms were submitted to the municipal People’s Committee for the 2021-2025 period.

Other districts have been in the same fate. District 7 is experiencing a rapid mechanical population growth so local authorities are under high pressure to build enough classrooms for students. Vice Chairman of the District 7 People's Committee Nguyen Thi Be Ngoan acknowledged that according to the Resolution of the Party Congress of District 7 for the 2020-2025 term, the district must build eight new schools with 190 classrooms.

However, from the beginning of the term until now, the district has not implemented any projects. Though the district’s eight school projects were approved by the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City with a total investment of VND651 billion (US$27,917,231), the district is still waiting for the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to arrange capital for implementation of the eight projects.