Teachers and students suffer because of tables and chairs

Da Nang schools use attached desks and chairs or let 4th graders sit on desks and chairs the same size as 1st graders, causing a lot of trouble for teachers and students.

Class 4/7 of Duy Tan Primary School, Lien Chieu District, has 43 students. On the afternoon of October 5, when the homeroom teacher called her to the board, Nguyen Hoang Khanh Ly struggled to pull her legs out of the desks and chairs that were stuck together.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Xuan, the homeroom teacher, using tables and chairs together makes group activities difficult because it is difficult for students to move around. She gave another example: at the beginning of each class, there is usually a warm-up session to create excitement, but when the teacher lets students move to the song, they cannot line up in rows of four or three because it is too crowded and the tables and chairs cannot be stacked together. Sweeping and mopping the floor also takes more time.

Khanh Ly said that although she has been familiar with these tables and chairs since first grade, she has difficulty with her height of 1.59 m and weight of nearly 50 kg.

"Every time I move, my feet either hit the chair or my knees hit the table," Ly shared. The female student and dozens of other students of similar height were seated at the back of the class.

Students of grade 4/7 at Duy Tan Primary School, Da Nang, sit at desks and chairs on the afternoon of October 5. Photo: Nguyen Dong

According to Mr. Nguyen Hy, Principal of Duy Tan Primary School, the school has 319 sets of chairs and tables of the same size, used in 14/35 classrooms. For first and second graders, everything is easy, but for fourth graders, it will be quite difficult. Many children have developed physically beyond the previous size of tables and chairs.

"We should change soon to ensure students' learning and normal physical development," said Mr. Hy, adding that he had made a recommendation to the District People's Committee and the Departmentof Education and Training.

The situation of old desks and chairs of inappropriate sizes occurs in many schools in Da Nang.

Ms. Anh Ngoc, a parent of a child in grade 1 and grade 5 in Thanh Khe district, often has to ask her child about desks and chairs to discuss with the homeroom teacher. According to her, the class size is higher than the standard of the Ministry of Education and Training (35 students/class), so when adding more desks, the distance between them is too close.

"The height of the students is also outstanding, some students want to stretch their legs but they bump into the person sitting in front. Their sitting posture is very cramped, if they want to copy the lesson, they have to bend over and hunch their back...", Ms. Ngoc said.

Desks attached to chairs make it difficult for students to move around, and classroom space is limited. Photo: Nguyen Dong

At the 2022 year-end meeting of the Da Nang City People's Council, this was also an issue of concern to many delegates.

"There are schools where 5th graders sit at the same desks as 1st graders, and 9th graders sit at the same desks as 6th graders," said delegate Nguyen Thanh Tien, Head of the Urban Committee.

Mr. Mai Tan Linh, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Da Nang, said that the inappropriate size of desks and chairs for students has been proposed by Da Nang and many other provinces in the report on adjusting Circular 26 of the Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Science and Technology, and Ministry of Health.

"This is a story that has been petitioned for the past 5-10 years," said Mr. Linh.

In February, voters in Tuyen Quang province also had similar opinions, requesting the Ministry of Education and Training to study and amend Circular 26 in the direction of increasing the size of desks and chairs to suit the physical condition of students at all levels.

First graders sit at desks and chairs, the same size as fourth graders. Photo: Nguyen Dong

Circular 26 of 2011 regulates the size of desks and chairs for students from primary to high school, issued based on the National Standards of 2005. Based on the height of students (1-1.75 m), desks and chairs are divided into 6 sizes. Depending on the size, desks are from 45 to 69 cm high, chairs are from 26 to 41 cm high. Schools are flexible, one class can arrange many sets of desks and chairs of different sizes. The Circular also does not require schools to use attached desks and chairs.

Mr. Pham Hung Anh, Director of the Department of Facilities, Ministry of Education and Training, said that not too many students would be affected if desks and chairs were arranged properly according to the regulations in this circular.

"Over 70% of the problems with desks and chairs being too small for students' physical condition come from the organization and arrangement of schools and localities," he said, adding that many schools face this situation.

According to him, the reason is that many places organize the purchase of desks and chairs in a centralized manner, while schools have not done a good job of surveying students' heights, leading to desks and chairs that may be suitable for students of one school but not suitable for another.

In addition, many schools arrange for students to sit in one classroom with the same set of desks and chairs from the beginning to the end of the grade, so the desks and chairs are suitable for first graders but they still sit in fifth graders. This situation occurs especially in primary and secondary schools when parents buy air conditioners and televisions themselves and do not want the school to move their children to another room.

The only point that needs to be revised in Circular 26, according to Mr. Hung Anh, is the desks and chairs for students over 1m75 tall. He said that actual surveys in many localities showed that some high school students are over this height, so desks and chairs are not suitable. In the coming time, the Ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health to study student anthropometry to revise and adjust Circular 26.

Many schools in Da Nang have found adaptive solutions. For example, Nguyen Hue Secondary School in Hai Chau District regularly checks the height of students in each class at the beginning of each school year to place two types of desks and chairs in the same classroom.

"Many 6th graders are as tall as 8th or 9th graders, and there are 9th graders as tall as 6th graders. Therefore, we have to be flexible in arranging appropriate desks and chairs," said Principal Vo Thanh Phuoc.

Nguyen Dong - Duong Tam

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