Ho Chi Minh City seeks to solve the "problem" of student numbers

Ho Chi Minh City seeks to reduce class sizes each new school year. Photo: D.Xa.

Positive signal

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education, before the 2024-2025 school year began, dozens of primary and secondary schools in suburban areas such as Binh Tan District, Hoc Mon District, Binh Chanh District, etc. were put into use. Specifically, in Binh Tan District, there are 7 more schools (including 5 primary schools, 1 kindergarten and 1 secondary school), with 204 new classrooms; Hoc Mon District has also just put into operation a primary school with a capacity of 20 classrooms to reduce pressure on neighboring schools. It is known that most of the schools that have just been put into use for this new school year are built according to modern standards with quality rooms, garages, schoolyards, playgrounds, teaching equipment, trees, etc. According to the plan, by 2025, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South, Ho Chi Minh City plans to put into use an additional 4,500 new classrooms in many localities.

It is known that in recent years, before entering the new school year, the city has always inaugurated many schools scattered in localities to meet the demand. In addition to public schools built with budget investment, many schools from kindergarten to high school invested in construction by private enterprises have also been put into operation. Even in District 12 this school year, the number of classrooms in non-public units put into operation is more than public ones. The parallel combination of budget capital and socialization to increase schools and classrooms to reduce pressure on class size is a policy that the Ho Chi Minh City education sector has been implementing for many years. The model of non-public schools in Ho Chi Minh City is very diverse, with tuition fees ranging from just over 1 million VND to several tens of millions of VND per month, helping parents and students have appropriate choices.

Long-term problem

Despite the above positive signs, many schools, especially primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City, still cannot meet the requirement of 35 students per class. The main reason for this situation is the increase in population, mainly in suburban districts, which often makes school infrastructure unable to keep up. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, on average, each year, the city increases by about 25,000 students (equivalent to more than 700 classrooms). In addition, 20% of students in the area do not have permanent residence. This also affects the maintenance of class size, because this group of students can move from one district to another with their parents, making it difficult to control and forecast each new school year. Under this pressure, class size increases, exceeding the standard of 35 students in some schools.

Specifically, in Binh Tan district, statistics show that in the 2024-2025 school year, the district will welcome nearly 7,000 children to preschool, 10,000 students to primary school (grade 1), and 10,500 students to grade 6. Therefore, although 7 new schools have been inaugurated, the class size still exceeds 35 students (in primary school). Accordingly, the average class size is 38 students/class (some schools have fewer, some have more). Although not yet meeting the standard, the number of 38 students has also decreased significantly compared to the previous school year (average 42.2 students/class). In Go Vap district, the average class size in primary school is 41.8 students/class, higher than the standard of nearly 7 students per class... It is known that most of the pressure on class size in Ho Chi Minh City comes from primary school, where the largest number of students is. At post-secondary or high school levels, this pressure is greatly reduced and is almost no longer a concern for the education sector.

With the characteristics of a modern urban area, the rate of mechanical population growth in Ho Chi Minh City is always at the top of the country. Therefore, the construction of school infrastructure often takes a while, with a certain delay to meet actual needs. Specifically, after determining certain areas (wards, communes, towns) with large population growth, learning needs (preschool, primary school, etc.), the education sector will have a plan to build new facilities. This construction also takes from 1 to 3 years. Because it is impossible to build and expand schools before there is actual record of population growth, the occurrence of overload in the above areas is inevitable and often occurs at the beginning of each school year. Therefore, the problem of class size is always a long-term problem, with a certain delay compared to reality.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-tim-cach-giai-bai-toan-si-so-10287764.html