The ironic situation of schools in Thanh Vinh ward being "rented" space.

The school is facing a dilemma regarding its boarding school canteen.

For several days now, the Board of Directors of Quang Trung Primary School (Thanh Vinh Ward) has been in a difficult situation, as they have been repeatedly asked by the "landlord" to pay for the school's kitchen, while the school is unable to pay.

"They have repeatedly requested that we stop using the school kitchen to cook meals for the children because we haven't paid the rent. Without the kitchen, we wouldn't know where to cook and bring the food to the children," said Principal Tu Thi Thu Huong.

Two years ago, due to the dilapidated condition of the old school building, the local authorities approved a project to completely rebuild Quang Trung Primary School. Immediately afterward, all the buildings were demolished to clear the site for construction. In August 2024, Quang Trung Primary School leased a site from Nghe An University of Industry to begin the new school year.

Because the school construction project was expected to be completed and put into use in only about 1.5 years, the People's Committee of Vinh City (formerly) only allocated funds for the school to rent this location for 2 school years.

In the contract between the local government and Nghe An University of Industry, only 26 rooms were rented for Quang Trung Primary School's use, and no kitchen was rented for the school to provide boarding services for students.

“This school year, although fewer than last year, the school still has nearly 1,100 students, of whom almost 99% are registered for the school lunch program. Because the Vinh City People's Committee previously did not rent a kitchen, and the university has a very spacious and clean kitchen that is currently unused, our Board of Directors decided to negotiate with the university to exchange one rented classroom in exchange for the kitchen. The university agreed, but near the end of the school year, they changed their minds and refused to allow the exchange, demanding payment for the kitchen rental,” Ms. Tu Thi Thu Huong recounted.

The university quoted a price of 7.5 million VND per month for renting the school cafeteria. According to Ms. Huong, because the "landlord" changed their mind, the primary school had to hold a parent meeting to seek their opinions. All parents then agreed to sign a document agreeing to rent the university cafeteria to provide meals for their children.

“Many parents are also very careful in their calculations, because if they don't hire a school canteen, they have to buy ready-made meals from outside for their children to eat at school. Each ready-made meal costs up to 44,000 VND, and by the time it reaches the school, it's already cold, not to mention the quality is uncertain. Meanwhile, if the school cooks directly for the children, each meal only costs 25,000 VND. In addition, if they buy ready-made meals, all nearly 10 school staff members who have been serving meals at the school for a long time will be unemployed,” shared the Principal of Quang Trung Primary School.

According to parents' calculations, renting a school canteen would only cost each student an additional 7,500 VND per month. Because the school is not allowed to sign rental contracts according to regulations, the Parents' Association decided to directly arrange the rental. However, the plans of the parents and the school changed after a promise was made by the leaders of Thanh Vinh ward.

“At the beginning of the school year, the leadership team of Thanh Vinh ward came down to inspect after the two levels of government came into operation. After hearing the school's presentation about the canteen, the ward leaders directly instructed the ward's departments to allocate funds for the school to rent the canteen. Since the amount was not large, there was no need to raise funds from parents anymore. Therefore, parents canceled their previously agreed-upon plans. However, recently, the university has repeatedly demanded payment for the canteen rental from August 2024 until now, but Thanh Vinh ward has not been able to arrange it, waiting for the 2026 budget. Therefore, the university is demanding that we no longer use the canteen. Now the school doesn't know what to do…,” Ms. Huong recounted.

How long will we have to rent the school?

Similarly, Quang Trung Secondary School has been renting premises from Nghe An University of Industry for nearly two years while waiting for the construction of a new school. According to the plan, both Quang Trung Primary and Secondary Schools were supposed to move to the new, spacious building by the end of this school year, but the old school has been demolished, leaving only a silent, empty plot of land, and construction of the new school has yet to begin.

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The biggest challenge during the rental period was the lack of classrooms. The school currently has 16 classes but only rents 11 rooms, so students have to be divided into shifts: grades 7 and 9 attend in the morning, and grades 6 and 8 attend in the afternoon. Therefore, the school cannot yet organize two-session-per-day teaching as per guidelines. Of the remaining 3 classrooms, the school prioritizes one computer room, one for the principal's office, and one multi-purpose room including administrative, medical, equipment, and storage areas.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan - Principal of Quang Trung Secondary School

"Last school year, there was no waiting room for teachers, so after each class, teachers had to stand or sit awkwardly in the hallway. This school year, we had to use our own money to borrow a small room to use as a waiting room for teachers," Ms. Lan added.

Similarly, Quang Trung Primary School has nearly 30 classrooms, but only 26 rooms are available for rent, including the principal's office and other functional rooms. "Because of the shortage of rooms, last school year the school had to hold classes on Saturdays as well. This school year, we've rearranged things, so it's better; the different grades will have days off and classes will alternate to make room available," said the principal of Quang Trung Primary School.

According to our reporter's observations, Quang Trung Primary School and Quang Trung Secondary School share a seven-story building. The rent alone is approximately 160 million VND per month for Quang Trung Primary School. However, another college also rents space in the building, not to mention students from Nghe An University of Industry studying there. Therefore, the noise is very loud and significantly impacts teaching and learning.

During recess, most students are confined to their classrooms or wander around the hallways because the schoolyard is full of parked cars. Nearly two years of renting space has left schools without room for activities, resulting in the reduction of many extracurricular programs. Instead of conducting practical science lessons in laboratories, students now mainly learn through online simulation videos…

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The biggest inconvenience is the noise, because there are four schools in the same building, and their schedules are not the same. When one school is teaching, another is closed...

Ms. Tu Thi Thu Huong - Principal of Quang Trung Primary School

The principal of Quang Trung Primary School added: "For example, when the primary school children are on their lunch break, it's also the time when college or university students are leaving, creating a lot of noise."

Meanwhile, the principal of Quang Trung Secondary School, Nguyen Thi Lan, said that because they had to rent a different location, many parents had requested to transfer their children to another school.

Besides these two schools, in Thanh Vinh ward, there is also Cua Nam Kindergarten which has been renting premises from a business for the past three years while waiting for a new school to be built. However, the new school has not yet begun construction.