VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoians in the city’s four central districts, who take pride in being “authentic townspeople”, complain that it is difficult to find schools for their children.

 

 

 

The “headquarters” of the nursery school, located near the classroom, however, is a two-storey house on a floor of 20 square meters. The head office of the school is on the second floor, while the room on the first floor is a kitchen.

Sao Mai Kindergarten has four classes all located in three different places. The largest room, 56 square meters, at No 63 Tran Hung Dao Street, is reserved for 42 children. 

Another “campus” is on Ly Thuong Kiet Street, and the third is at No 42 Phan Boi Chau Street.

Sao Mai is not alone. Many other schools in Hoan Kiem District also have classrooms located in different places in residential quarters.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, deputy head of the Hoan Kiem District education sub-department, said that of 18 state-owned nursery schools in the district, only six have campuses, while the other schools have to set up classes in different places.

Chim Non Nursery School, for example, has its classrooms located in four places, while Hoa Mi, Binh Minh, Sao Sang and Dinh Tien Hoang has three subordinate campuses.

Due to the limited facilities, most of the schools in the inner city can receive no more than 300 students. 

At many schools, their largest campuses are no bigger than 200 square meters. Sao Mai’s classrooms are no larger than 60 square meters.

Le Loi Secondary School is one of the smallest schools in Hoan Kiem District. Nguyen Thi Van Hong, Le Loi’s headmaster, said the school receives students from the four richest wards of the Hoan Kiem District, but it doesn’t have enough students.

“I heard that in other districts of Hanoi, students have to scramble for the seats at star schools. Meanwhile, we have to scramble for students,” she said.

Hanoi’s parents do not want to bring their children to small schools with uncomfortable facilities. Therefore, they would rather pay extra money to enroll their children in private schools.

Le Hong Phu, deputy chair of Hoan Kiem District, said that it was difficult to modernize the facilities of the schools in the district because of the lack of a land fund in the area where “an inch of soil is an inch of gold”.

Tien Phong