Founded more than 150 years ago, Le Quy Don High School has witnessed generations of change in Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City and educated figures including Cambodia’s late King Norodom Sihanouk.
With a history spanning more than 150 years, Le Quy Don High School is the oldest secondary school still operating in Ho Chi Minh City. Generations of students have passed through its classrooms, including figures who left their mark on the history, culture and science of Vietnam and the wider region - among them a former king of Cambodia.
Ho Chi Minh City’s oldest schools
Collège Chasseloup Laubat, the predecessor of today’s Le Quy Don High School. Photo: Le Quy Don High School archives
Le Quy Don High School is located on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, in what was formerly District 3 and is now Xuan Hoa Ward. Construction began in 1874 and was completed in 1877. The school offered education from primary level through the baccalaureate under the French curriculum.
When it was founded, it was named Collège Indigène, or the Indigenous College. Not long afterward, it was renamed Collège Chasseloup Laubat after Francois Marquis de Chasseloup Laubat (1754-1833), a French minister responsible for overseas territories, then known as the Ministry of Colonies.
In the early 20th century, the school began admitting more Vietnamese students, provided they held French citizenship. At the time, the campus was divided into two separate sections. French students studied in the Quartier Européen, while Vietnamese students attended the indigenous section. Despite the separation, both groups followed the same French curriculum and sat for the French baccalaureate examination.
In 1954, the school was renamed Jean Jacques Rousseau after the French intellectual associated with the 18th-century Enlightenment. The change was intended to move away from associations with the colonial era. The school, however, remained under French administration and primarily educated Vietnamese students.
In 1970, management was transferred to the Vietnamese authorities and the institution was renamed the Le Quy Don Education Center, teaching students from grades 1 through 12.
Following national reunification, the city administration issued a decision on Aug. 29, 1977, establishing Le Quy Don High School. Today, it is a public school under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.
According to the Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City Dictionary, edited by Thach Phuong and Le Trung Hoa, Collège Chasseloup Laubat was founded in 1874. Based on these historical records, Le Quy Don is regarded as the oldest secondary school still operating in Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City, with a history of more than 150 years. It is also considered one of the city’s cultural heritage sites.
A school attended by prominent figures
Le Quy Don High School today. Photo: CTV
Beyond its remarkable history, Le Quy Don High School is associated with many distinguished former students, intellectuals and influential figures in the history, culture and science of Vietnam and the region.
Notably, one of its former students was Norodom Sihanouk, the late King and later King Father of Cambodia.
Others who studied at the school include Cao Trieu Phat, an engineer and patriotic intellectual who served on the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front; Nguyen An Ninh, an early 20th-century Vietnamese revolutionary who was posthumously recognized as a Heroic Martyr in 1978; and Tran Van Giau, a history professor and People’s Teacher who received the Ho Chi Minh Prize.
The school was also attended by Nguyen Van Huong, a professor and microbiologist who served as Vietnam’s Minister of Health, and Vuong Hong Sen, a Vietnamese cultural scholar and collector of antiquities.
In arts and culture, prominent alumni include composer Trinh Cong Son, one of the most celebrated figures in modern Vietnamese music.
In science, the school’s former students include Trinh Xuan Thuan, a Vietnamese-American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia in the United States. He is the author of numerous works and books on cosmology and the relationship between science and Buddhism.
Other alumni include pharmacist Tran Van Nhieu, chairman of the Board of Directors of Pharmedic, and Luu Van Lang, one of the first Vietnamese engineers and a prominent patriotic intellectual in southern Vietnam during the first half of the 20th century.
In education, former students include Assoc. Prof. Ho Thieu Hung, former director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training and former deputy head of the municipal Party Committee’s Commission for Ideology and Culture.
In medicine, alumni include Assoc. Prof. Bui Huu Hoang, a recipient of the Young Creative Science Award from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City.
Other former students include mathematician Le Hoang Long, who graduated at the top of his class from the University of Science and received a doctoral scholarship from the State University of New York; Dr. Le Dinh Hien, a physician and former secretary of the school’s Youth Union who was selected as an outstanding young Vietnamese delegate to a summer camp in Moscow in 1987; Do Ngoc Thanh, a martyr and Hero of the People’s Armed Forces; and Phan Van Chuong, a patriotic intellectual and former member of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.
Three siblings - Dr. Nguyen Binh Minh, diplomat Nguyen Binh Thanh and Meritorious Artist Nguyen Binh Trang - also studied at the school.
Other notable names include Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, vice president of the Vietnam-Japan and Vietnam-France friendship associations at the central level, and Dr. Le Van Cu, former general director of the Saigon Export Processing Zone, who received the Ho Chi Minh Prize.
More than 150 years and a continuing journey
Students at Le Quy Don High School.
Its long history is part of what gives Le Quy Don High School its distinctive standing. The school is currently recognized as meeting Level 2 national standards, the highest level in Vietnam’s national school standards framework, while also holding Level 3 education quality accreditation, the highest level in the accreditation system.
Since the 2006-2007 academic year, Le Quy Don High School has also been the first school in Ho Chi Minh City to implement an advanced education model aligned with international integration.
Known for its educational quality, the school consistently ranks among the 10 Ho Chi Minh City high schools with the highest Grade 10 admission scores each year.
From Collège Indigène and Collège Chasseloup Laubat to Jean Jacques Rousseau, the Le Quy Don Education Center and eventually Le Quy Don High School, the institution has undergone several name changes alongside major turns in history.
After more than 150 years, the school in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City not only preserves traces of a bygone era but continues its tradition of educating generations of confident, dynamic and creative students.
That legacy also provides a foundation for generations of Le Quy Don students to reach beyond Vietnam, engage with the wider world and become part of the young workforce contributing to Ho Chi Minh City’s future development.
Vietnamnet.vn
Podcast
.svg){kind=icon}
