Children attend ceremonies to greet new academic year
 |
| Students at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Secondary School in Ha Noi were excited to start the new school year yesterday. — VNA/ VNS Photo Quy Trung |
HA NOI — About 22 million students across the country flocked to schools yesterday morning to start the new academic year of 2012-13.
In Ha Noi, more than 1.5 million students and pupils showed up at the academic year ceremonies for their schools.
This year, the capital city will apply lower school fees approved by the city authority last July.
Specifically, the fees for State-owned pre-schools, secondary and high schools are VND40,000 (US$1.9) per student per month in urban areas and VND20,000 ($0.9) per student per month in rural areas.
The fees for vocational training are VND40,000 for students in urban areas and VND20,000 in rural areas each year.
According to the municipal People's Committee, it was estimated that the city would lose VND27 billion ($1.2 million) this academic year by lowering the fees, but the loss is worth it because it will create more favourable conditions for all students to go to school.
Currently, Ha Noi has more than 2,430 schools with more than 1.5 million students and 110,000 teachers. About 650 of these are national standard schools.
As many as 36 schools have been built and 4,800 schools upgraded at a cost of VND2.2 trillion ($105 million) for this academic year.
In northern Hoa Binh Province, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan attended the new school year ceremony at Hoang Van Thu High School, where students achieved 39 prizes at the national competition for excellent students last year.
Many schools in other localities also started their academic year yesterday. The Department of Education and Training in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak has invested hundreds of billions of dong to build and upgrade 658 classrooms in remote areas and VND110 billion more to supply books and learning aids to 308,000 ethnic minority students.
About 700,000 students from 1,570 schools in central Nghe An Province attended the opening ceremony for the new school year. The province also approved VND103 billion ($4.9 million) to supply teaching equipment to schools. — VNS