VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly all the general schools in Hanoi would be subject
to the punishment because of the substandard material facilities and overloaded
classes, once the decree being drafted by the Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET) is promulgated.
Under a document released in December 2010, there must not be more than 35
students in every class at primary schools. Meanwhile, a “special mechanism” has
been exceptionally applied to Hanoi: the schools in the inner city can have up
to 40 students for every class.
However, nearly all the schools in Hanoi have more than 40 students in each
class. The schools in Hoan Kiem district have been mentioned in dispatches over
the last many years for their efforts of curbing the number of students at no
more than 45 per class.
Meanwhile, the schools in Dong Da, Hai Ba Trung, Cau Giay, Thanh Xuan and Ba
Dinh districts all have 50-60 students per class. The overloaded classes have
been existing over the last many years and this is not a surprise to anyone.
The headmaster of a primary school said under the current regulations, there
must not be more than 40 students per class. The figure is 35 for national
standard schools. Meanwhile, her school has 45 students per class.
Having overloaded classes, general schools’ headmasters had remained unruffled
until some days ago; when they heard that heavy fines would be imposed on the
schools which cannot meet the standards in material facilities and the size of
classes.
Under the draft decree being compiled by MOET, schools would be fined up to
VND20 million, if they enroll more students than allowed.
The draft decree has put educators on tenterhooks. If the document is
promulgated, nearly all the schools in Hanoi would be punished.
“How can we control the numbers of students in every class, if our schools are
located in the areas with high populations?” said Cao Thi Ngan, Deputy Head of
the Hai Ba Trung district’s education sub-department.
“We really want to have 35 students only for every class, but we can’t,” she
added.
Le Ngoc Quang, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Education and Training Department,
has admitted that the MOET’s requirement is overly high for Hanoi. The schools
in the city have to accept more students to ensure that all the children can go
to school. While the number of children at the school age increases rapidly, the
number of classrooms does not increase accordingly, which has resulted in
overloaded classes.
Quang said that there has been no more land fund for the city to develop more
schools.
According to Ngan, the land is seriously lacking in Hai Ba Trung district. A
primary school now has to share the same campus with a secondary school. The
students of two wards of Le Dai Hanh and Nguyen Du share the same primary
school. The Vinh Tuy Primary School was once recognized as the national standard
school. However, its title has been deprived because of the rapid increase in
the number of students which has exceeded the allowed level.
Since Hanoi has no land fund for the school development, experts say the only
solution is to build multi-storey schools. However, the local authorities
decided that school buildings have up to 3 stories at maximum. Only the schools
in Hai Ba Trung district have been exceptionally allowed to have 5-storey
buildings.
Tien Phong