To make sure every school class in Viet Nam has its own space, the Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, has approved the building of 5,000 classrooms and homes for teachers by 2015. In 2020, the Government will again assess the need.

Tran Phu Primary School in HCM City. Some 5,000 rooms will be built to serve as classrooms and public houses for teachers by 2015.  

At present, some classes have to share their rooms.

Other functional rooms, such as clinics, multi-purpose classrooms, libraries and equipment rooms, will be built under the project.

To organise the project, including setting aside land and finance, the Ministry of Education and Training will co-ordinate ministries and sectors, including the provincial People's Councils and the Viet Nam Fatherland Front.

The ministry will also help local authorities survey the regional need for classrooms.

Local authorities will be expected to manage building efforts using local budgets and supplementary funding from the Government.

The Government has allocated VND3.7 trillion (US$174 million) to the project from its bonds contingency fund. The Ministry of Education and Training will also propose projects to the Prime Minister to raise even more funds.

A similar project from 2008 to 2012 was successful. Under it, nearly 110,000 classrooms and teachers' houses were built at a cost upwards of VND15 trillion (US$707 million).

VNS/VNN