Kids plays at a kindergarten in Kien Giang Province. The new school year is set to begin on September 5. VNA/VNS Photo Hong Dat

In HCM City, for instance, staffs at many schools including Rang Dong Kindergarten in Tan Phu District and Vo Van Tan Secondary School in Tan Binh District have cleaned up the campus and classrooms.

Rang Dong’s outdoor playground and Vo Van Tan’s tables and chairs have got a fresh coat of paint.

A city's Department of Education and Training report shows 1,500 new classrooms will be put into use as more than 1.7 million students from the kindergarten to high school level come to school.

The number of students will increase by 75,000 this year.

The city’s neighbouring province of Binh Duong this month finishes construction of 19 new schools. Many existing schools have several new facilities and toilets.

Several existing schools such as My Phuoc Primary School in Ben Cat District and Ly Thuong Kiet Primary School and An Binh Primary School in Di An Ward, which lack classrooms, are planning to rent classrooms from private schools to meet the needs of an increasing number of students.

Binh Duong will have 31,000 additional students as more and more people come to the province to work.

Shortage

But many provinces like Kien Giang, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An face a shortage of classrooms and teachers.

According to Kien Giang's Department of Education and Training, the province has a shortage of around 1,000 teachers and 1,000 classrooms.

Nghe An Province's Department of Education and Training said many classrooms have deteriorated and need to be replaced.

Phan Van Thiet, deputy head of the education and training division in the province’s Ky Son District, said almost all classrooms in areas affected by two floods last August are virtually unusable.

The province has allocated VND14 billion (US$6 million) for renovating these classrooms for temporary use.

The province’s Que Phong District has a shortage of more than 41 classrooms.

In the mountainous border district of Quan Son in Thanh Hóa Province, the last floods destroyed 10 schools. Construction of temporary ones are being sped up and expected to be completed within a week.

In Muong Lat District, nine schools were affected by the last floods. Their staff and volunteers cleaned up the mud deposited by the floods last week.

The Viet Nam Education Publishing House Limited Company plans to supply nearly 110 million textbook copies this year.

As of mid-July all provinces and cities have received its textbooks.

This academic year will be the last one to use textbooks under the existing curriculum.

VNS