Regulation of 35 students/primary school class: Difficult to match reality

Overcrowding

The Hung Dong Primary School (Vinh City) prioritized the arrangement of 12 new classrooms for first grade students. Although new classrooms, new desks and chairs, and facilities were invested in, at the beginning of the school year, to arrange seats forpupilnot easy

Teacher Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh - homeroom teacher of class 1D - Hung Dong Primary School said: The class has 18 desks, divided into 3 rows, each desk has an average of 2 students. Currently, the class has 39 students, so there will be desks with 3 students. When the children are young, this arrangement is acceptable. But when they are in grades 3 and 4, their bodies grow rapidly, even for students over 1.5m tall, they will sit very cramped. Not to mention, the whole class has toboardingand taking a nap in class right on the desk makes it difficult to ensure comfort.

It is known that Hung Dong Primary School is one of the schools with the largest number of students in Vinh city with 1,530 students and 39 classes. On average, each class has 39 students, including some classes with more than 40 students, exceeding the regulation of primary schools of 35 students/class.

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For urban schools, implementing the regulation of 35 students per class is very difficult. Firstly, there will not be enough classrooms to add more classes. Secondly, there will not be enough teachers to teach the classes. For example, in our school, in previous school years, for 3 consecutive years, the school had to organize rotating classes due to lack of classrooms. This year, the school has just built 12 more classrooms but they are just enough, not more. Furthermore, the school is short of 6 teachers. If the number of students is arranged according to the regulation, the number of classes in the school will increase from 39 to 43 and there will not be enough cultural teachers to teach the classes.

Teacher Tran Thi Thu Hang - Principal of Hung Dong Primary School - Vinh city

At Phuc Tho Primary School, Nghi Loc District, due to pressure on teachers and student numbers, this year the second grade class will be reduced from 5 to 4 classes with 174 students, with an average of more than 43 students per class. The number of students is large, but because the classroom was built many years ago, the classroom does not have enough space to arrange tables and chairs. Some tables are placed close to the edge of the board (less than 1 meter). Teaching in these conditions is not only difficult for teachers but also difficult for students to absorb, affecting their eyesight.

Not only grade 3, the remaining grades at Phuc Tho Primary School all exceeded the regulation with an average of 39 students/class. Teacher Ngo Thuy Duong - homeroom teacher of grade 1 of this school added: The regulation is 35 students/class but I have never had the opportunity to teach according to the number of students, some years there were 5-6 more students. Due to the large number of students and the lack of space in the classroom, organizing teaching and learning is very difficult, especially withNew General Education Programrequires flexibility in teaching, organizing many activities, games or group activities.

According to the 2024-2025 school year plan, Phuc Tho Primary School has 903 students, with 24 classes, an increase of 1 class compared to the previous school year. Due to the increase in classes but no increase in facilities, the school had to convert 1 functional classroom into a classroom. Next year, when the number of classes continues to increase, the school is expected to have to convert 1 more computer room or library to have enough classrooms for students.

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Primary schools are currently under a lot of pressure in terms of student numbers, facilities and teachers. Although our school has a large number of students, the number of teachers is only enough for 1-2 teachers/class and we have to contract 3 more teachers. In the current context, the regulation of 35 students/class is difficult to implement in densely populated areas.

Teacher Dang Van Ha - Principal of Phuc Tho Primary School - Nghi Loc

Difficult to suit all regions

At the beginning of the 2024 - 2025 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training sent an official dispatch toDepartment of Education and Trainingon the implementation of primary education tasks for the 2024-2025 school year. In particular, the requirement for primary schools is to ensure that the number of students per class does not exceed 35.

In fact, this is not a new regulation and has been implemented in schools for many years. However, due to the specific characteristics of each locality, implementation is difficult to be uniform.

InVinh cityFor many years now, most classes in the area have exceeded the prescribed quota. For example, this year, the whole city has 7,384 students entering grade 1 with 204 classes. Thus, the average number of students per class is over 36 students/class and the central special schools such as Le Loi, Ha Huy Tap, Quang Trung, Quan Bau will have higher numbers than the schools in the suburbs such as Hung Hoa, Nghi Kim, Nghi Lien. For example, at Le Loi Primary School, this year the school has 11 grade 1 classes but only 1 class has 39 students/class, the rest have 40 students/class.

In Dien Chau district, with the characteristics of a district with a high number of children born each year, the student population is among the localities with the highest number of students in the province, so the number of students in each class exceeds the regulations quite high.

At Dien Phuc Primary School, according to teacher Ngo Thi Loan: In nearly 30 years of working, there have been many years when I had to be in charge of a class of more than 35 students, including some years when there were more than 41 students. If the class size is small, teachers will have more time to care for, instruct, and guide students, and also have more opportunities to take care of them.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, reducing the number of students per class is an important and sustainable solution to both improve the quality of teaching and ensure the rights of each student. In localities, this is also the basis for approving plans and allocating teacher staff for each school year.

The current problem in Nghe An is that many localities have to consolidate classes and increase the number of students due to the large number of students. On the contrary, in mountainous districts, due to many isolated locations, the number of students does not meet the regulations. The fact that a school has many locations and many classes, but when approving plans or allocating teacher quotas, the general limit is 35 students/class is not suitable to reality.

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In our area, only schools in the town area, Tam Quang have enough 35 students/class. But in the whole district, the general ratio is 22 students/class, even in some places with only 5.7 students, we have to open classes, open satellite schools to ensure the rights of students. Implementing the 35 students/class mechanically, we have to concentrate many schools, putting pressure on school facilities, making it difficult for parents to travel. The current problem is that Tuong Duong district does not lack primary school teachers, if the number of students remains the same, there will still be enough teachers to teach in the classroom. However, in the 2024-2025 school year, due to the merger, the number of classes will be reduced by 32, but the whole district will have a surplus of 25 primary school teachers. This forces the district to rearrange the teaching staff in schools, transferring teachers from places with a lot of surplus to places with a few surplus, which will cause some disruption.

Mr. Thai Luong Thien - Head of Education and Training Department of Tuong Duong district

With the specific characteristics of each region, it is clear that the regulation of 35 students/class is expected to reduce pressure on schools, avoid wasting facilities and teachers. However, when this regulation is put into practice, many shortcomings have arisen that are not suitable for reality and not suitable for many areas. This also makes it difficult for schools and localities to develop plans, arrange staff and regulations, so there are opinions that it "only has theoretical value"./.