A new primary school is being built in Binh Chanh District (Photo: SGGP)
At a recently held conference summarizing the implementation of Decision No. 02/2003 on February 25 of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City on approving the school network development plan to 2020 with the orientation In the period of 2020-2030 and a vision to 2045, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hieu said that the Resolution of the 10th and 11th Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress targeted to build 300 classrooms per 10,000 children in the school-age from 3-18 years old, including those without permanent residence or KT3.
However, only 11 out of 22 districts have completed this goal set by the Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress. Some districts such as Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, District 12, Go Vap only have approximately 220 classrooms per 10,000 people.
In Binh Chanh District, the Construction Investment Project Management Board was assigned to be the investor of 141 school projects in the period 2003-2021, but so far, 107 projects have been completed or are under construction while 34 projects are in the middle of implementation.
Vice Chairman of District 8 People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Sang said that the district has built 292 classrooms per 10,000 people by the end of 2021. The rearrangement of schools and classes is difficult because many educational institutions have been renovated from people's houses; therefore, the district can’t organize two shifts of learning a day.
According to statistics of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, by the end of 2020, roughly additional 1,047 schools have been open to admitting students including 823 preschools. After the localities implemented the school network planning, the total number of classrooms increased to 24,683.
Under the districts’ existing plan, the land area for the construction of educational institutions has so far only reached 57.48 percent of the city's general approved plan. Worse, land for building educational facilities in districts 2, 6 , 7, 8, Go Vap, Binh Thanh, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh and Can Gio districts are very low compared to the approval of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City.
Explaining this situation, representatives of districts all said that because public land lots in the city’s school construction planning projects are mainly planned on the land of organizations, households, and individuals whereas compensation and site clearance costs have increased, affecting the feasibility of the plan.
In addition, the budget resource for education is still not enough to meet requirements while the city has not had attractive policies to call for social contributions for school construction.
From now to 2030, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hieu said that the education and training sector will continue to coordinate with relevant departments and agencies to build nearly 1,000 more schools to meet the needs of students.
Furthermore, the Department of Education and Training will advise the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to adjust the land planning for education in accordance with the actual situation in all districts in combination with the implementation of solutions such as speeding up the progress of the project, building new or upgrading and expanding classrooms. Last but not least, the sector will invest in modernizing classroom equipment to improve the quality of education.
Representatives of many districts also proposed that the municipal People's Committee have more specific preferential policies on land, taxes, and administrative procedures to mobilize more investment resources in addition to the state budget to develop the school network in the form of public-private partnership.
Speaking at the conference, Standing Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Le Hoa Binh highly appreciated the efforts of the education and training sector, local administrations, and departments in building more educational facilities to meet people’s increased needs.
To continue to develop the network of schools and classes, Mr. Binh suggested that departments and governments in districts study and have specific solutions for the matter to help the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in promoting school network planning. In particular, people's committees in districts and Thu Duc City are tasked with continuing to review zoning planning projects in parallel with adjusting the city's general plan and mobilizing all resources to accelerate the development of the education sector.
