VietNamNet Bridge – Many general schools in Hanoi recognized as meeting national standards could lose their official status because of increase in the number of enrolled students.

Luu Thi Bich Hang, head of the Long Bien district education and training sub-department, takes pride that the number of national standard schools in the locality has remained stable, although there are 2,500-3,000 more students year after year.

Hang said one of the most important tasks of the sub-department is acting as an advisor to the district’s authorities, making suggestions about how many more classrooms need to be built every year to satisfy local demand.

However, it is not an easy to build more classrooms in other districts of Hanoi.

Thanh Tri district in the suburbs of the city, which once led the city in the number of schools meeting national standards, is now also facing a lack of classrooms. This could cause schools to lose their title “national standard schools”.

According to Le Dinh Hung, deputy chair of Thanh Tri district People’s Committee, in Dai Thanh, one of the three urban areas in the locality, there are 20,000 residents. The increasingly high number of students has put pressure on local schools.

“We have many times urged the building of more schools, because schools must exist in urban areas. However, there is only one privately run nursery school here,” Hung said.

In order to be recognized as national standard education establishments, schools must meet certain requirements on teaching and learning quality, and facilities.

Schools say they can easily satisfy the requirements on teaching and learning quality, but it is difficult to have facilities that are good enough, due to their modest budgets.

This explains why many schools in Hanoi, which were recognized as national standard schools in 2009 and earlier, have lost the title after the reassessment.

While the schools have many more students during the last few years, their material facilities have not been upgraded accordingly.

At the schools, functional rooms, such as libraries and practice rooms have been used for classrooms, while existing rooms have been expanded and more rooms have been built, thus reducing the space for school yards and extracurricular activities.

Nguyen Hong Quang, headmaster of Chuong My A High School, said the school is under repair as material facilities have degraded. However, the VND30 project has been suspended because of a lack of capital.

Tran Cong Thanh, head of the Phu Xuyen district education and training sub-department, said nine schools in the locality need upgrading. However, he said, it would be not a good idea to focus on upgrading standard schools in difficult areas while paying less attention to other schools.

“We wish to have money to upgrade the schools in difficult areas,” Thanh said, adding that students now have to study in 200 provisional rooms or rooms borrowed from individuals or organizations.

Mai Thanh