VietNamNet Bridge – “Parks for children are places for social evils. Many couples engage in personal activities that are inappropriate for public places. I would like to petition the city authorities to build parks for children,” a student proposed in a meeting with HCM City authorities on January 1.

Student Dang Phu Tai from the Hung Vuong high school, said HCM City has a dozen of parks but none of them are explicitly for children. Parks are the breeding grounds to social evils like drug addiction, robbery, thief, etc.

Nguyen Phuong, a schoolgirl from Cu Chi district, said that the city should build parks in the suburbs. She said in her district, there  children’s houses and cultural houses but children still need parks to relax after school.

Ngo Thi Minh, vice chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education and Youth-Children Affairs, said that she conducted surveys of amusements for children. According to the surveys, HCM City is the pioneer in building amusement facilities for children.

“I hope that the city will listen to children’s opinions and attach importance to their aspirations because the city has chosen this year (2011) as the year for children,” Minh stressed.

Bao Tram, from Phan Chau Trinh school in Tan Phu district, said: “School violence has become quite popular. Many students who are close friends still fight each other just because of a lack of sympathy for one another”. She proposed the authorities to strengthen educating students about school violence.

Huynh Dinh Can, a student from Binh Chanh district, said: “School violence has reached an alarming level. Many students witnessed fights but they did nothing, even shooting the fight with their mobile phones to upload onto the Internet. I would like to ask what should the city do to solve this situation?”

An official from the HCM City Department of Education and Training, Tran Khac Huy, said that he would report student opinions to the department director. He said the city organized meetings to analyze school violence to seek effective measures to deal with it.

“Our department has combined with the municipal police forces to ensure security at schools. The department also asked schools to at least have a consultant to help deal with problems of students at schools,” the official said.

Phan Thi Phuong Anh, a student from Can Gio district, said that the city authorities announced to allocate good teachers to the rural areas but in fact, rural schools don’t have many excellent teachers. She asked the city to send more excellent teachers to the rural regions.

Cao Nha Dinh from Binh Tay school complained that he couldn’t go to his school on time because because of road construction.

“Roads are sometimes flooded and blocked by construction. Why are they (roads) being repaired so often? I got up very early to go to school but I was still late because of traffic,” Dinh said.

In the 3-hour meetings between 80 students and HCM City authorities, students raised 45 opinions and 33 messages about school violence, reduction of syllabi, building more playgrounds for kids and social centers for disadvantaged children, etc.

HCM City People’s Council Chair Pham Phuong Thao said that 2010 as the “Year for Children” so the city would try to better take care of children.

PV