Many schools in Vinh city lack classrooms ahead of new school year

Not confident when children study in old class

Parents of Grade 1 students at Le Loi Primary School, Vinh City, have just filed a petition complaining about the school's board of directors for arranging for 6 classes of Grade 1 students to study in an old, dilapidated building, fearing that this will affect the safety of the students.

This school year, Le Loi Primary School has just completed the third building and after more than 3 years of implementation, all 3 new buildings with 45 classrooms have been put into use (including 3 functional rooms: computer room and steam room). Although there has been a large investment, with more than 2,200 students and a scale of 55 classrooms (the largest in the province), the number of existing classrooms cannot meet the needs of organizing 2 sessions/day for the entire school. In that context, the school was forced to continue to reuse 2 old buildings and borrow 2 more classrooms from Le Loi Secondary School to have enough classrooms for all students.

The old classrooms of Le Loi Primary School are still being reused this school year and are expected to be for many years to come due to a lack of classrooms. Photo: My Ha

Previously, according to the school's plan, because last school year, grade 2 students had to study in the old classroom, grade 3 students had to skip a year of school (no main classroom, had to borrow classrooms from other classes) and priority was given to grade 4 and 5 students because their parents had contributed a lot to building the facilities, so this school year, 6/10 grade 1 students still had to temporarily study in the old classroom for 1 year. However, this plan of the school was opposed by parents.

After receiving comments from parents, the school board and Le Loi ward authorities also held a meeting, listened to parents’ opinions and shared their concerns. In addition, appropriate solutions were also proposed. Parents’ concerns about degraded and damaged classrooms were promptly repaired to welcome students back to school.

Speaking more about this, teacher Nguyen Thi Quyen - Principal of the school also said: Because the school is under construction, it is not possible to ensure that all classrooms are synchronized and we really need parents to share the difficulties of the school. Currently, although there are still many old classrooms, the school is still trying to equip enough air conditioners, electric fans, and televisions in all classrooms. Compared to new classrooms, the learning conditions between classrooms are similar. The school will also ensure the safety of students during the learning process so as not to affect their learning and living.

Le Loi Primary School is repairing degraded facilities to prepare for students to return to school. Photo: My Ha.

Le Loi has always been a "hot" ward in terms of enrollment, especially in recent years when the number of apartments in the area has increased rapidly and the number of students has also increased every year. To meet the needs of teaching and learning, in recent years, the city and the People's Committee of Le Loi Ward have invested tens of billions of VND to build facilities but have not met the demand. Right now, although the headquarters building of Le Loi Primary School has been designed and is ready for construction, the ward is having to adjust the design to add 1 more floor to increase 5 classrooms because it is forecasted that the number of students will not decrease in the coming years.

Mr. Le Van Long - Chairman of Le Loi Ward People's Committee also added: Previously, Le Loi Primary and Secondary School were the same school, so in the planning and reconstruction process, we had to consider how to make it reasonable. The difficulty is that the construction of the school must be both suitable for the design and construction, but still have to be harmonious to meet the needs of enough classrooms for students during the school year. Therefore, in the implementation process, it is inevitable that "old school, new school" will cause many parents to be concerned and worried.

All classrooms at Le Loi Primary School were built by parents and the school together to facilitate students' learning. Photo: My Ha

Pressure due to lack of classrooms

Although they have to study in old classrooms, compared to many other schools in Vinh city, students at Le Loi Primary School are still lucky because they have enough classrooms, and students do not have to "catch up" (study in one classroom each day and have to take extra classes on Saturdays). At Nguyen Trai Primary School (Quan Bau ward), although the school has just invested in building 11 more classrooms, this year the school still lacks 7 classrooms and 5 functional rooms.

This forced the school to consider a rotational solution and 4th graders had to follow a schedule of skipping and rotating classes. Teacher Tran Thi Nga - Principal of the school said: We have 8 4th grade classes but only 1 classroom, so we have to arrange for all the remaining grades to have 1 day off during the week (to give the class to 4th graders) and make up for it on Saturday. The only remaining class is for 4th graders, we prioritize each class to study for 1 month so that the students do not have to change classrooms.

This school year, Hung Dong Primary School is short of 7 classrooms. Photo: My Ha

According to the school principal, despite investment in facilities, it is still not enough because the number of students in the area has increased too quickly in recent years. The school currently has more than 1,800 students, but it is expected that by 2024, the number of students will increase to more than 2,000 and in the long term, students will still have to drop out of school or take turns taking leave if there are not enough classrooms in time.

Similarly, Hung Dong Primary School is also lacking 7 classrooms. Therefore, not only does the school have to continue to arrange students in the old, degraded classrooms, but it also has to organize catch-up and rotation classes between classes. Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hang - Principal of the school said: The lack of classrooms makes it difficult for the school to arrange classes for students. To share with parents, we are planning to organize for grades 3 and 4, each class will rotate for one semester.

Despite the construction of many new classrooms, the shortage of classrooms still occurs in many schools in Vinh city. Photo: My Ha

Across the city, according to the Department of Education and Training, there are currently over 10 schools lacking classrooms, mainly at the primary level. Therefore, schools must organize rotational learning or borrow classrooms from other units (such as Truong Thi Primary School borrowing a classroom from Truong Thi Secondary School, Quang Trung Primary School borrowing a classroom from Quang Trung Kindergarten).

The assessment report on the school year results of Vinh city also frankly pointed out the existing limitations, which are: The progress of investment in building facilities in some schools has not met the requirements, not fully meeting the criteria and standards according to the regulations of national standard schools. The situation of overload in terms of students/class, number of classes/school, lack of classrooms and functional rooms in some schools still exists.

Faced with these problems, the city is currently discussing solutions. In the immediate future, it will seek opinions from schools and the city plans to organize a dialogue between principals and leaders of the Vinh City People's Committee to find solutions to overcome the difficulties.

The lack of classrooms makes it difficult for schools to arrange the school year. Photo: Duc Anh

The city is also focusing on developing and implementing the Project to build a network of school facilities associated with building national standard schools in the period of 2021 - 2025 to ensure suitability and meet the needs of learning and development. It is expected that in 2022, the city plans to start building 179 new cultural classrooms and subject classrooms, support and auxiliary rooms at 19 schools with a total investment of over 206 billion VND.