Director of Hanoi Department of Education: It is difficult for core districts to allocate land to build schools.

Director Tran The Cuong said that Hanoi's inner city, especially the core districts, is facing difficulties in land for school construction, currently lacking 49 schools.

On the afternoon of October 17, the Standing Committee of the Hanoi People's Council held a meeting to explain the work of building schools that meet national standards and investing in, renovating, and building new kindergartens and general schools in the area.

Delegate Nguyen Thanh Binh, Head of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee of the People's Council, asked Director of the Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong to clarify the feasibility of the target of 80-85% of schools meeting standards by 2025. Mr. Binh saw that many schools were facing difficulties in terms of area and facilities.

Currently, 463 schools do not meet the Ministry of Education and Training 's target of student numbers per class, mainly at the primary and high school levels. Regarding the scale of districts, Mr. Binh said that 28 out of 30 localities have primary schools with more than 35 students per class, "some districts exceed all of them". In addition, 180 schools exceed the prescribed number of classes, that is, more than 30 classes at the primary level and 45 classes at the secondary and high school levels.

Delegate Tran Khanh Hung raised the issue of the lack of public schools. In 2012, the Hanoi People's Committee issued a decision on school network planning, which required that at least each commune, ward, and town have one kindergarten, one primary school, and one secondary school; and that every 30,000-50,000 people have one high school.

According to these criteria, up to now, 8 inner-city districts of Hanoi still lack 49 schools, including 4 kindergartens, 14 primary schools, and 31 secondary schools. Hoan Kiem District lacks the most with 2 kindergartens, 7 primary schools, and 11 secondary schools, for a total of 20. Hoang Mai and Dong Da both lack 9 schools, and Hai Ba Trung 6.

At the high school level, Mr. Hung said that according to the above criteria, Hoan Kiem district lacks 2-5 schools, Hai Ba Trung needs 6-10 more schools, and Hoang Mai lacks 10-11 schools.

"It is because of the lack of schools that pressure is being put on the education sector," Mr. Hung said, asking the Department of Education and Training to tell him how it has developed a plan and advised the People's Committee to overcome this situation.

In response to questions from delegates, Director of the Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong said that each year, Hanoi mechanically increases the number of students by 50,000-60,000, equivalent to 30-40 schools. This puts great pressure on the school system in Hanoi to ensure enough places to study and to recognize national standard schools.

Director of the Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong at the meeting on the afternoon of October 17. Photo: Hoang Phong — Director of the Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong at the meeting on the afternoon of October 17. Photo: *Hoang Phong*

Regarding the feasibility of achieving more than 80% of standard schools, Mr. Cuong admitted that one of Hanoi's biggest difficulties is the criteria for facilities. According to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, suburban kindergartens must have a land area of 12 m2/child, and inner-city kindergartens must have 10 m2/child; this figure for primary and secondary school students is 10 and 8 m2 respectively; high school students average 10 m2/student. As of October 2023, Hanoi only has more than 1,600 out of 2,240 standard schools, equivalent to 73%.

"There is no land in the core districts," Mr. Cuong said. The core districts include Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Hai Ba Trung and Dong Da.

In addition to the difficulty of lacking inner-city land, Hanoi currently has about 174 urban areas, but 55 projects do not have schools in their planning. Not to mention, many urban areas have planned schools, but more than half are behind schedule and have not been built.

To simultaneously solve the problem of school shortage and national standard school recognition, Mr. Vo Nguyen Phong, Director of Hanoi Department of Construction, proposed that the City People's Committee review land funds for education and change school designs.

Vo Nguyen Phong, Director of Hanoi Department of Construction, at the meeting on the afternoon of October 17. Photo: Hoang Phong — Mr. Vo Nguyen Phong, Director of Hanoi Department of Construction, at the meeting on the afternoon of October 17. Photo: *Hoang Phong*

Mr. Phong gave an example of moving the council rooms and teachers' offices to the upper floors, and moving students to the lower floors. At that time, schools could request relevant ministries and localities to raise floors, add classrooms, and ensure fire safety under the guidance of specialized agencies.

Agreeing with this view, Mr. Tran The Cuong suggested that the city continue to implement the policy of reclaiming slow-progressing projects; transferring land for school construction, prioritizing areas of agencies that have relocated to the suburbs for education; suggesting that the Ministry of Education and Training allow Hanoi and large cities to enjoy special policies, from calculating land area/student to floor area/student when recognizing standard schools.

From now until 2025, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training has proposed to renovate and repair 123 high schools. In addition, the city plans to build 16 more schools, including 7 inter-level schools. The total investment for these 139 projects is VND8,873 billion, from the city budget.

In his concluding remarks, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Council Nguyen Ngoc Tuan requested districts to review and allocate land for school construction, especially public schools that meet national standards. The city People's Committee must speed up the construction of schools, relocate agencies that do not comply with the planning from the inner city, and promptly overcome the shortage of schools and classrooms. Regarding investors who deliberately delay and have poor capacity, Mr. Tuan directed to resolutely reclaim land and hand it over to localities to build public schools.

Thanh Hang - Vo Hai

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