VietNamNet Bridge - HCMC has 67,000 more students this year compared with the 2017-2018 academic year, while the number of classrooms has increased insignificantly.

HCMC has 67,000 students this academic year

A parent recently emailed the editorial board, complaining that his son, a student at the Hong Bang Secondary School in district 5, has been warned that he would be excluded from the day-boarding class if he ‘violates regulations’.

Tran Duc Khanh, headmaster of the school, confirmed that day-boarding classes are reserved for sixth and seventh graders only, satisfying 20 percent of the demand.

“The number of students registering to study in day-boarding classes is very high, but we can satisfy all,” he said, adding that the seats in the classes are reserved for students whose parents live and work in district 5, students who have one parent, or have parents living far away.

The students following English-intensive programs and students of Vietnamese-French bilingual classes will also be gathered in day-boarding classes because they need to have two learning shifts per day.

Hong Bang is one of the most overloaded classes in HCMC with 81 classes.

The same situation can be seen at Le Van Tho Primary School in district 12 which has 90 classes this academic year and 4,500 students.

The school was built in 2005 and designed to become a national standard school with no more than 30 classes and 100 percent of day-boarding students. But in reality, the number of classes is triple and the number of day-boarding students is zero. Due to the serious lack of classrooms, some functional rooms have been improved to be used as classrooms.

A teacher at the school said she now has to work too hard because of the high number of students in class.

“I have to speak more loudly so that all students can hear me and I always am hoarse at the end of day,” she complained.

“Instead of requesting students to work in teams, I ask them to discuss with classmates on the spot to prevent them from moving around,” she said.

At An Hoi and Luong Dinh Cua Primary Schools in district 3, every event is organized twice, in the morning and afternoon, to be sure that all students can attend.

The headmaster of a primary school in Binh Tan district said one headmaster and two deputy headmasters don’t have enough time to attend all teaching hours, and teachers complain they have to work too hard, while the security team has proposed to recruit more workers to ensure security and order in school.

Deputy director of the HCMC Education Department Nguyen Van Hieu confirmed that the classes with 60 students are not rare in the city, though 800 new classrooms have been put into use.

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