School for gifted lacks funding

HCM CITY (VNS) — Although a 10-year plan to improve schools for gifted students was approved by the Government two years ago, only a small percentage of the state funds given to provinces to build classrooms and buy equipment has been used for those purposes.

The Le Hong Phong High School for Gifted Students in Nam Dinh Province, for example, lacks classroom space this year after admitting nearly 500 10th graders, raising its total number of students to 1,500.

The school is known for the high number of its students who win national, regional and global prizes.

With the increase in the number of students, the school has to use rooms that house the management staff, according to school principal Cao Xuan Hung.

In addition, the school has no playground or yard for students to engage in physical exercise or outdoor activities.

The school has only one computer lab and no other laboratories for practical learning in such subjects as physics, chemistry and biology. Students in these classes study theory only and have little chance to practice.

The school's English teachers use their own teaching equipment, including cassettes and laptops.

According to school principals in northern Lang Son Province, a shortage of teachers and management staff as well as facilities has made it difficult for them to improve teaching and learning at their schools for the gifted. — VNS