VietNamNet Bridge – At nearly all state–run schools, including the top ones, the quality of material facilities and teaching aids is poor, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has found from a survey.

According to Tran Duy Tao, a senior official from MOET, the average ratio of land area per university and junior college student is very low, at 35.7 square metre per student. This means, that if the required level is set at 55-85 square metre per student, over 50 percent of universities and junior colleges cannot meet the standard.

50 percent of laboratories backward

The survey, which was conducted on 200 schools, found that the average area for study per student is very low at 3.6 square metre, while the current laws stipulate that the minimum area must be six square metres, and the average area in developed countries is 9-15 square metre. Moreover, many schools still have to rent houses to be used as school campuses.

Laboratories and libraries, the important learning facilities, are seriously lacking at schools. The number of laboratoriesaccounts for only 13.02 percent of total number of rooms and lecture halls. Only 15.5 percent of laboratories have been considered as meeting the requirements for conducting scientific research, 22.5 percent of laboratories reportedly have good equipments. However, only 1.4 percent of laboratories have the material facilities comparable to that in other universities in the world. Meanwhile, 50 percent of laboratories are of backward standard.

While library is considered the “heart of university”, many schools do not have them. On average, 21.2 students have to share the same seat at libraries.

Schools told to share the facilities

The biggest reason behind the problem, according to Tran Duy Tao, is the limited budget for education and training.

However, Nguyen Truong Giang, a senior official from the Ministry of Finance, which is in charge of allocating the state budget, argued that education and training always get priority in budget allocation, and that the education sector has got the highest possible investment. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan also said that schools should not expect to receive more from the state, but they should think of restructuring the management mechanism in order to use the facilities more effectively.

One of the solutions for now, according to educators, is that faculties in the same school and groups of schools share the facilities and teaching aids. Tran Tien Phuc from Nha Trang University said in order to have enough high quality computers, his school has set up an information technology centre which serves all the training majors of the school. Similarly, the school has more than 10 laboratories for students from all majors.

According to Phuc, some universities have modern laboratories but they are still not running at full capacity. He believes that it would be better if the laboratories could also be used by other schools. Schools will sit down together to discuss how to use the laboratories in the most effective way.