The Ministry of Education and Training has just sent an official dispatch to the Departments of Education and Training regarding the implementation of primary education tasks for the 2024-2025 school year, requiring schools to ensure that the number of students per class does not exceed 35, and that they have sufficient minimum teaching equipment.

In fact, in recent years, many schools in Hanoi have been overloaded with students per class. In some places, each class has up to 50 students, which greatly affects the quality of teaching and learning.

Regarding the regulation that primary schools cannot have more than 35 students per class next school year, many teachers and education experts said that this requirement is very difficult for Hanoi in the current situation and is the dream of both teachers and parents.

Ms. Linh An (a parent in Hanoi) shared that last year, when her child entered 10th grade, the class size was 46 students. This year, the number of students increased by 3 students. Other classes all had at least 45 students per class. Ms. An complained: "When I entered my child's class because it was so crowded, I felt the atmosphere was very stuffy and noisy. But most public schools in Hanoi are like that, where can I find a class with so few students?"

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Hanoi students (Illustration: Hoang Ha)

Having worked at a school in Cau Giay district, teacher Thu Trang said that in recent years, her homeroom class has never had less than 48 students, and there were years when the number was over 50.

According to Ms. Trang, in Hanoi it is not uncommon to see primary school classes with more than 50 students, even up to 60. With the current classroom size, rows of desks block the aisles, making teaching and learning difficult. With a large class, teachers cannot control and correct each student in the class in a timely manner.

"Therefore, next school year, if there are only 35 students per class, it will be the dream of teachers and parents. However, regulations are one thing, reality is another. With the current overcrowded class size, to reduce it, we must have more classrooms, build more schools, and have more teachers to share the class size and separate classes. But now, there is only 1 month left until the new school year begins, will we have time to prepare?", Ms. Trang wondered.

According to her, reducing student numbers requires a specific roadmap to be implemented. Applying it immediately in the next school year is very difficult.

Sharing with VietNamNet, the principal of an educational institution in Hanoi admitted that the overload of students makes teaching difficult, and weak students are not closely tutored due to limited time.

"In classes with up to 50 students, teachers of subjects with few teaching periods still have difficulty remembering students' names and faces, not to mention evaluating and closely detecting students' weaknesses in order to correct them," the principal shared.

This person gave an example, the number of students in a class is 50. They will study English 2-3 times/week with a duration of several dozen minutes/time. It is impossible to expect all students in the class to practice speaking, not to mention practicing listening skills and teaching grammar to students. Besides, the students' levels are not equivalent, some students are outstanding but some are weaker, need extra tutoring but the teacher does not have enough time.

In reality, classrooms are limited, teachers are not increasing, and even the staff is being reduced, and large class sizes put teachers under a lot of pressure because there are too many "heads" of work to do in addition to professional work. Therefore, according to this principal, if it is possible to reduce the number of students per class to 35, it would be great, but it is not easy because it depends on many factors.

Ms. Pham Thi Le Hang - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Dong District (Hanoi), said that in previous years, the district was under a lot of pressure to enroll students in a new urban area with a large population but no schools. For example, Thanh Ha Urban Area, according to the enrollment route, belongs to Thanh Oai District, but because there is no school, children "overflow" to Ha Dong District. In the plan, it is necessary to ensure that 100% of 6-year-old children can enter grade 1, so in some places, schools have to accept more than 55 children/class, which causes difficulties for both teachers and students.

Recently, most elementary schools in the district have less than 50 students per class, which also reduces pressure on class size because the schools have been built in urban areas.

“35 students per class is the desire of many schools, the dream of all of us. I believe so. But in reality, it is very difficult to achieve because Hanoi's land fund is limited, the population is increasing day by day, and districts are also trying to reduce the maximum number of students but it is difficult. I just hope that the city can allocate more land for education to reach the ideal number of students as prescribed or change the regulations on the number of floors for schools, allowing higher buildings to be built to have more classrooms for schools,” said Ms. Hang.

Ms. Hang also said that this year, Ha Dong district has 1 newly built and operational Ha Dong Secondary School, 7 schools have had additional classrooms built on the old school grounds... contributing to reducing the pressure on student numbers, but the ideal student number is still very far away.

Not only Ha Dong but also Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay, Hoang Mai districts… are under great pressure every year in terms of primary school enrollment due to the increase in population. Most schools have 40-50 students per class, some schools are overloaded, with more than 50 students per class. In recent years, districts have invested in building new, repairing, expanding classrooms, and separating schools, but the decrease in class size has not been significant.

According to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, the school network planning is being updated in the city's master plan until 2030, with a vision to 2045, in which kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools have been distributed in communes, wards, and towns. However, in reality, there are still some wards in inner-city districts lacking public schools due to lack of land funds...

Phu Tho reduces the number of specialized classes in the 2021-2022 school year

Phu Tho reduces the number of specialized classes in the 2021-2022 school year

Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted (Phu Tho province) has just announced its enrollment quota for grade 10 for the 2021-2022 school year. Accordingly, the total quota and specialized classes are 300 students, 30 students per class.