Minister of Education and Training supports Hanoi to raise floors and increase student numbers

In the report on 10th grade enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year in early July, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training allow special mechanisms for public high schools in 12 districts and some districts bordering the inner city.

Specifically, high schools here are allowed to increase the number of classes by 10%, from 45 to 50 classes per school; increase the number of students per class by 10%, from 45 to 50, and use the ratio of used area/student instead of land area/student in evaluation activities.

According to Minister Son, adding more floors, increasing the scale of educational facilities, construction scale... is related to amending a joint circular between the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Education and Training.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son at the working session of the National Assembly Chairman with the Standing Committee of the Hanoi Party Committee, afternoon of July 25.

"In principle, we support this because urban space has its own characteristics. Currently, the two ministries are coordinating to fix it," Mr. Son said at the working session of the National Assembly Chairman with the Standing Committee of the Hanoi Party Committee on the afternoon of July 25. According to him, the new regulation will allow schools to build with higher floors, calculating floor area/student instead of land area/student. However, he emphasized that whatever is done "must ensure space and safety".

Mr. Son acknowledged that the capital has 8.3 million people, with high education levels, so in addition to the need for places to study, people are very concerned about the quality of education. Not to mention, in recent years, many well-off families have come from other places to Hanoi to rent or buy houses. Therefore, ensuring enough places to study is always a stressful story.

"We have public schools, private schools, continuing education centers, and vocational schools. There are places, but in theory, we need to ensure enough places in public schools if students want to attend high school," said Mr. Son.

In addition to the solution of expanding school areas, Mr. Son said that it is necessary to promote the policy of relocating universities and colleges out of the inner city, returning land for public works, including schools.

Every year, Hanoi has about 2.2-2.3 million preschool and primary school students. This year, of the 129,210 secondary school graduates, 78,620 were admitted to public grade 10 (60.9%).

The Hanoi Department of Education and Training assessed that this ratio is in line with the regulations on post-secondary education, but "parents still want to study in public schools" and this is also the goal of the Hanoi education sector.

From now until 2025, the Department proposes to renovate and repair 123 schools under its management, from now until 2025; it plans to build 16 more schools. The total investment for these 139 projects is VND 8,873 billion.

According to VnExpress