Students get to study near home, parents are both happy and worried

House next to school but not on route

Ms. DH said that her house is on Hoa Lu Street (Hai Ba Trung District), right next to Tay Son Primary School. Her child can walk a few steps to school, but according to the enrollment route by ward, her child studies on the right route at Ba Trieu Primary School, has to go through a large road, further away and has to have someone pick her up and drop her off...

If a family wants to study at Tay Son Primary School, they must apply for a transfer to another school, request confirmation of residence, and… wait for the school to enroll enough students in the right school before considering other cases.

Parents of Tay Mo 3 Primary School are upset because their children cannot study at a school near their home (in 2024)

PHOTO: DINH HUY

Although districts in Hanoi have tried to calculate so that preschool, first and sixth grade students can study as close to home as possible, enrollment by route has still encountered many problems, such as the case of Ms. DH's family mentioned above.

Remember, during the 2024 primary school admission season, hundreds of parents brought their application documents to Tay Mo 3 Primary School (Nam Tu Liem District) to "surround" the school to demand their rights because their children were not allowed to attend school even though the school was right next to their home and the new school year was approaching.

Many parents shared that their houses are right next to the school but they were still rejected because they were not in the right enrollment area or because they had run out of enrollment quotas. Studying at a school far from home causes many difficulties for families as they have to work and send their children to school early. Moreover, primary school students having to study far from home also poses many potential risks to their health and safety during the commute...

The story of the primary school enrollment zoning in Hanoi has long been a "hot" topic on parent forums. The situation of students living near the school but being zoned to a school far from home causes many inconveniences in picking up and dropping off, affecting the time and health of both children and parents. Many families even have to find every way to let their children enjoy what seems to be natural, which is to study at the school closest to home.

Mr. Tran The Cuong, Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, once shared: "There are cases in border areas where it is difficult to determine which enrollment area they belong to. As an anecdote from previous years, there are cases where students in areas where when they go to bed, "their head is in this enrollment area but their feet are in another enrollment area". Mr. Cuong suggested that flexible zoning calculations should be made, in agreement with local authorities, to create more favorable conditions for students.

From the above reality, the information that the Hanoi Department of Education and Training will calculate to be assigned to enroll students according to the digital map positioning system, students will be able to study at schools near their homes instead of the current mechanical assignment, has made parents especially interested and expectant.

If this can be done, students will have the opportunity to study in a close, familiar environment, reduce travel time, and have more time for comprehensive development activities.

It also helps reduce urban traffic pressure. Thousands of parents no longer have to travel long distances to pick up and drop off their children, contributing to reducing traffic congestion, especially during rush hour...

Schools must be sufficient and of similar quality.

For decades, the Hanoieducation sector has been determined to reduce the situation of cross-district study, but there has been no assessment of the implementation of this policy. Besides the reason that a number of students have to study across district lines due to inadequacies in enrollment, the more important reason is still the problem of overloaded schools and uneven quality of education among schools.

Returning to the incident of hundreds of parents "surrounding" Tay Mo 3 Primary School, the reason why students living near their homes cannot attend school is because the school is overloaded, the population in the new urban area where the school is located is increasing too quickly, causing the school's conditions to not be able to meet all the needs of students whose actual residence is near the school.

Another very important reason is that the quality of education in terms of both facilities and teaching staff is still different between schools while the desire for children to study in a good environment is a legitimate need of parents and students.

Ms. HA, who lives in Doi Can (Ba Dinh District), said that next school year her child will be in 6th grade, but if she follows the admission route, her child will have to go to a middle school with poor quality, while the family cannot afford to send her child to a private school. Therefore, according to Ms. HA, she hopes that her child will study at another school in the district, even though she will have to take her child to and from school, the quality of education will make parents feel more secure.

Ms. Pham Thi Le Hang, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Dong District, said that to ensure that students can study at a school near their home and feel secure with that school, the long-term solution is still to invest equally in the quality of teaching and learning as well as facilities so that parents and students do not have to go to school outside their area or far from home.

Talking about solutions to limit studying outside the school district, far from home, Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Vice President of the Association of Psychology and Education Science, also said that the important thing is to "regulate" the quality between schools, avoiding the situation where one place is too crowded in terms of quantity, while another place does not meet the enrollment target.

When the facilities and teaching staff of all schools meet the requirements to ensure the quality of education at a common level, the situation of "running to schools and choosing classes" will certainly decrease sharply.

Admission by location system, actual residence

The Department of Education and Training is researching the implementation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) in primary school admissions, expected to be applied from the 2026-2027 school year.

Through the positioning system, students can enroll in schools near their actual residence. Thus, students will be able to study at schools near their homes instead of being assigned to wards as is currently the case. This will help reduce the burden on families, students and teachers.

(Mr. Tran The Cuong, Director of Hanoi Department of Education and Training)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hoc-sinh-duoc-hoc-gan-nha-phu-huynh-vua-mung-vua-lo-185250506205442858.htm