Under regulations issued by the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, each primary school class must not have more than 35 students, while secondary, high schools and multi-level schools must not have more than 45 students in each class.

However, many schools in Hanoi have faced overcrowding for years, with the number of students in some classes exceeding 50 students.

According to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, in the 2025-2026 school year, the entire city has a total of 2,954 preschools and general schools of all levels with about 70,500 classes, meeting the needs of more than 2.3 million students. Among them, the public sector comprises 2,337 schools, with the remainder being private.

The department admitted a lot of shortcomings regarding the planning of school network. Many school projects included in the planning have not been implemented or are progressing slowly, causing a shortage of schools and classrooms; the development of the school network according to planning has not kept pace with the rate of population increase.

Dao Ngoc Nghiem, former Director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture, believed that the shortage was partly due to rapid population growth, while school construction has not responded in time.

"In recent years, Hanoi has seen very rapid population development. For example, under the planning, Hanoi was expected to have 9.2 million people by 2030, but in fact, by 2024, it had already reached 9 million. 

“Meanwhile, Hanoi continues to be an attractive destination for migrants thanks to job opportunities and income. In upcoming planning forecasts, it is expected that by 2030, the capital's population could reach 12-13 million people," Nghiem said.

Nghiem stated that when the population scale increases faster than planned social infrastructure, including schools, remains insufficient. 

"The land allocated for social infrastructure, especially schools, is very low. The average class size is about 35-45 students, but in Hanoi, many classes have more than 50 students each. Along with that, schools don’t meet the requirements in scale and area," Nghiem s.

Solutions

Solving this puzzle, according to Nghiem, is very difficult because "land has been allocated for other projects."

The solution proposed by the expert is to build more schools, but the main question he poses is "where is the land?". According to Nghiem, Hanoi can utilize the headquarters of units that became vacant after mergers; however, "converting the function of some agency headquarters into schools will also not solve the overall problem, as the area is not very large."

Nghiem believes the most effective option is to redistribute and thin out the population in some densely concentrated areas. 

"However, this is also a difficult task. Because to thin out the population, it is not only necessary to solve the housing and social infrastructure problems, especially ensuring jobs and income for them. 

“Therefore, a very great and strong determination is needed to solve this, along with sufficient social resources and budget," Nghiem said, adding that the city also needs to manage more strictly in new urban areas regarding ensuring planning of social infrastructure, including schools.

Tran Thanh Nam, Vice Rector of the University of Education under the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, argued that the cause of the school shortage is due to inaccurate planning. "Apartment complex projects don’t reserve land for public space and schools. This leads to rapid urbanization while land funds for education are not met, the main consequence of which is a lack of schools and classrooms," Nam said.

Nam said that for an immediate solution, in addition to planning and accurate population forecasting for each commune and ward, Hanoi could apply digital maps for early-level admissions (based on the distance from residence to school for recruitment).

"Population data can be integrated through VNeID to determine the school the student will attend. Along with that, schools also need to improve teaching quality and narrow the gap in disparities so that parents can feel secure regardless of which school or area their children attend,” Nam said.

“Through this channel, management agencies can also forecast early the number of children who will register for schools in the area in the following years, thereby having more scientific coordination policies," Nam added.

Le Huyen