VietNamNet Bridge – Many primary schools in HCMC have stopped the day-boarding regime and can only organize one class each day as there are not enough classrooms.
A crowd was seen recently in the area in front of Dang Thi Ranh Primary School in Thu Duc district, though the sun was burning hot at noon.
A man told reporters that he only had 45 minutes for lunch and was collecting his child and was in a hurry as he had to return to his office by 1:30 pm.
A group of students with heavy schoolbags on their backs were getting in a taxi as their parents could not fetch them from school.
One student in the third grade was seen standing for one hour in front of the school in the sun. It took her mother nearly one hour to get there as she had to travel by bicycle.
Sending children to day-boarding schools is the dream of thousands of parents in HCMC. Students can go to school either in the morning or afternoon, and spend the rest of the time at home for self-study.
“I am at work all day, so I don’t have time to take care for my son. I don’t know what he does in the afternoon. I guess he plays games instead of doing home exercises,” Tran Thu Huong, a parent, complained.
The lack of classrooms is getting more serious in districts with high migration rate, including Thu Duc, Tan Phu and Binh Tan.
An official of the Thu Duc district education sub-department confirmed that as the number of first graders in the locality is high this academic year, many schools, namely Binh Trieu, Dao Son Tay, Hiep Binh Phuoc and Hiep Binh Chanh, have stopped the day-boarding regime.
The announcement by schools to stop the day-boarding has upset parents. They don’t know where to leave the children in the afternoon while they are at work.
A parent said she leaves her daughter at the girl’s teacher’s house in the afternoon. The teacher brings the girl and other students to her house, feeds them and takes care of them until their parents come to collect them at 6 pm.
Meanwhile, another parent complained that the teacher of her daughter refused to bring students to her house because the house was too cramped. However, even if the teacher had accepted, she would not have enough money to pay the teacher.
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