Private primary school students can receive up to 300,000 VND/month in support.

Ho Chi Minh City Departmentof Education and Training proposed supporting 100,000-300,000 VND/month for private primary school students in areas lacking public schools.

Specifically, in areas lacking public schools in Thu Duc City and urban districts, private primary school students are supported with VND300,000 per month. In the five districts of Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, Nha Be and Can Gio (rural group), the support level is VND100,000 per month.

This level is equivalent to the tuition fee for primary school level as stipulated by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council in October 2022. This is the basis for the city to spend the budget because primary school students are exempt from tuition fees.

Students of Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School, Thu Duc City, on the opening day of 2023. Photo: Quynh Tran — Students of Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School, Thu Duc City, on the opening day of 2023. Photo: *Quynh Tran*

According to the Law on Education, if the area does not have enough public schools, primary school students studying at private educational institutions will receive state support for tuition fees, the level of support decided by the local People's Council.

A month ago, the City People's Committee approved a list of 147 communes and wards that do not have enough public primary schools to serve as a basis for implementing this regulation. Of these, 11 wards do not have public primary schools, including Thu Duc City, Districts 4, 10, 11, Go Vap, and Tan Phu. 136 other areas have schools but are not enough to meet the needs of students.

List of 147 areas lacking public elementary schools.

There are two criteria for determining the lack of schools. First, the commune, ward or town does not have a public primary school and the government cannot arrange for students to go to public schools in the surrounding area.

The second case is that there is a school in the area but it cannot meet the needs of all students according to the norm - that is, 35 students per class.

This school year, Ho Chi Minh City has more than 1.7 million students and preschoolers, an increase of more than 35,000 compared to last year. At a conference in August, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training, said that every year the city has 10,000-15,000 more students of each age group, many schools are overloaded.

According to the Department's calculations, with the current population size and growth rate, to achieve the target of 300 classrooms per 10,000 school-age people (3-18 years old) by 2025, the city needs more than 8,000 new classrooms.

Le Nguyen

Source link