Hanoi is overloaded with schools, many schools cannot maintain national standards.

Hanoi has the largest student population in the country, with 2.3 million students, and an average annual increase of 40,000 to 50,000 students. However, the school network planning has not kept pace with the population growth, resulting in a shortage of schools and classrooms, and a high student-to-teacher ratio leading to many schools failing to meet national standards.

With an increase of 40,000 to 50,000 students per year, Hanoi needs to build 30 to 40 new schools annually. Currently, over 460 public schools in the city exceed the student-to-class ratio. 28 districts have primary schools with class sizes exceeding the standard (more than 35 students per class).

This reality has led to many schools that have already met national standards struggling to ensure and maintain the prescribed criteria regarding area and student-to-class ratio, especially schools in inner-city districts…

According to Le Tuan Dinh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong Da District: "Dong Da is also a very crowded district, with very limited land for schools. According to regulations, a school should have about 30 classes, 4 floors, and 30 students per class. However, currently in Dong Da, a school has about 60 classes, with 40-60 students per class. Therefore, the number of students and classes in a school in Dong Da is excessive."

With the rapid increase in the number of students due to migration, it is necessary to focus all resources to meet the demand, including reviewing land availability for the construction of public schools.

According to the plan for 2022, Hanoi was to recognize 194 new schools as meeting national standards, but by the end of the year, only 142 had been recognized. For 2023, the plan was to recognize 130 new schools as meeting national standards, but so far only 16 have been recognized. The remaining schools have not met the criteria, partly due to overcrowding.

Currently, the eight inner districts of Hanoi alone are lacking 49 public schools. According to Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Vu Thu Ha, with the rapid increase in the number of students due to migration, it is necessary to concentrate all resources to meet the demand, including reviewing land availability for the construction of public schools.

"The city will also continue to provide strong and responsible guidance to local authorities, districts, and the Department of Education and Training in appropriately allocating student enrollment zones, to ensure that we address the localized issues of excessively high class sizes in some schools."

Currently, there are still some school projects in urban areas that have not been implemented, and the City People's Committee has issued Plan No. 138 on comprehensively inspecting and resolving existing shortcomings and limitations in the management of investment in infrastructure construction, especially the construction of schools in urban areas," Ms. Vu Thu Ha said.

Nguyen Nhung (VOV1)

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