Hanoi leaders request not to be 'badly known' for cutting down on student meals

Mr. Nguyen Van Phong, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, suggested not to let schools "act arbitrarily", as well as not to have negative or group interests related to the policy of supporting meals for primary school students.

At the conference to summarize the 2024-2025 school year and deploy tasks for the 2025-2026 school year organized by the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, Mr. Phong said that this school year, Hanoi has issued many mechanisms and policies to promote the strong development of the capital's education in all aspects. In particular, it has taken special care of excellent students and recently pioneered in issuing a policy to support boarding meals for primary school students according to the General Secretary's policy.

According to Mr. Phong, Hanoi has to spend more than 3 trillion VND each year to support primary school students. "This is a large number for Hanoi, and very large for other localities," Mr. Phong said.

Mr. Phong said that this is a policy that demonstrates humanity. “The City People’s Committee has organized training, but through understanding public opinion, we see that there are still issues that need to be discussed,” he said.

He suggested that the Party Committees and authorities of communes and wards must take primary responsibility for this matter and not loosen management.

“Do not let schools act on their own. Absolutely do not allow negativity or group interests to arise in a very humane policy like this,” said Mr. Phong. He suggested that the City People’s Committee and People’s Council strengthen inspection and supervision of implementation.

“Don’t let such a humane policy be distorted, it will be very disreputable. Teachers, we all have children. Just as we take care of our children’s meals and sleep, we should take care of our students in the same way. I hope teachers will do the same,” Mr. Phong advised.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phong, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, spoke at the conference. Photo: Thanh Hung

To realize the goals and responsibilities of the Capital, Mr. Phong requested that the education and training sector as well as the authorities of 126 communes and wards deeply understand their responsibilities towards the education and training cause.

“The goal of education is limitless. Today's results are a good start for the next stage. The requirements and demands of the next stage are even higher than the current stage. Therefore, we recommend that the education and training sector and authorities at all levels need to have a deeper understanding of their role, position, responsibility and mission in education and training," he said.

Mr. Phong also requested the Department of Education and Training to study and advise the city leaders and the Ministry of Education and Training on issues related to the operation of the two-level local government model in the field of education and training.

In particular, regarding the team of management staff in charge of the field of education and training, Mr. Phong is concerned that only 61% of staff in the Department of Social Culture in communes/wards have professional expertise in education and training.

“At this time, with such resources, we can temporarily arrange it like that; but definitely, after 3 months of operation, we cannot let this happen,” Mr. Phong shared with the leaders of the communes and wards. “We do not lack human resources to the extent that we have to arrange for officials from sectors and fields unrelated to education and training to be in charge of this. This is impossible,” he emphasized.

Mr. Phong also requested the Hanoi People's Committee and the Director of the Department of Education and Training to promptly review the school network planning to suit the two-level local government model. "This needs to be done immediately, in parallel with the new communes and wards reviewing the planning, to ensure that it is both practical and must forecast the development trends of socio-economy , population, and conditions of the localities," said Mr. Phong.

He was also very concerned when he learned that a ward in the area that had lacked schools for many years now had the conditions to build two primary schools next to each other.

“I asked why and was told that we did it to strive to meet standards. I said we should reconsider,” Mr. Phong said, adding that we should not trade off students’ rights for unrealistic achievements.

According to him, if localities just "have budget to build", it will lead to waste and not be able to adjust the overall scale, while now Hanoi is moving towards recruiting students using a new method.

“Is it necessary for a new commune/ward to have 2-3 primary schools and 2-3 secondary schools? We have to calculate, review and re-evaluate this. In many places far from the center of Hanoi, the birth rate has decreased and the number of students in the future can be calculated. Hanoi should build inter-level schools. This is a trend that countries in the region have experienced and experience shows,” Mr. Phong raised the issue.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/lanh-dao-ha-noi-de-nghi-khong-de-bi-mang-tieng-vi-an-bot-suat-an-cua-hoc-sinh-2434425.html