VietNamNet Bridge – Even though the number of new nursery schools built in recent years in Hanoi has increased more rapidly than in any other cities, the supply cannot meet demand.

A report from the Hanoi Education and Training Department showed that there are 948 nursery schools in Hanoi which receive 431,000 children.

These include 692 state-owned schools, accommodating 33,900 children, or 80 percent of  all children, while 235 private schools receive the other 20 percent, about 84,000 children.

The lack of nursery schools in Hanoi is so serious that, in previous years, parents had to queue up overnight in front of state-owned schools to get enrolment applications to register their children in the schools.

However, Hanoi’s parents no longer queue for applications because the city authorities decided to use lucky draws for seats at state-owned schools.

Parents who are unlucky will have to send their children to privately-run schools, which require higher tuition.

However, many parents have complained that even those schools were not suitable for their children.

Parent Thanh Loan said she visited some schools on Ba Trieu, Tran Quoc Toan and Ly Nam De streets advertised as high-quality bilingual schools, but none of the schools was “pleasant to my eyes”.

“All the schools were small. Every classroom had an average area of 30-35 square meters, while there was nearly no school yard,” she complained. “And the required tuition is overly high, $300 a month.”

Dinh Van Huynh in Hoan Kiem District also said that the small classrooms at private schools were unsatisfactory.

“I was told to enroll my child in a school on Ba Trieu Street, a very prestigious school. However, I don’t want my child to stay in such cramped rooms which look like matchboxes,” he said.

Nguyen Thu Hoai, headmaster of Just Kids 3 privately run nursery school in Hoan Kiem District, admitted that her school still cannot meet the national standards stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Under the current regulations, the average land use area must not be lower than 12 square meters per child at schools in rural areas and must not be lower than eight square meters in cities.

Meanwhile, Just Kids 3 is located on an area of 250 square meters and the three-storey house has 750 square meters of usable area. It is expected that the school would receive 100 children by October.

Pham Thi Hong Nga, deputy director of the Hanoi Education and Training Department, noted that Just Kids 3 is not the only school which cannot meet standards in land area.

“The land fund in the inner city is limited. It is nearly impossible for private investors to meet national standards,” Nga said.

She went on to say that only 20 percent of schools nationwide can arrange for eight square meters for every child as requested by the Ministry of Education and Training.

VNE