HÀ NỘI – Nguyễn Thị Oanh, an inhabitant of the Rainbow apartment building in the Linh Đàm urban area in Hoàng Liệt Ward is struggling to find a primary school for her six-year-old child.

All public schools in the area have denied her application for the next school year as they are already full.

Because of the high demand, Oanh is forced to consider sending her child to a school in a neighboring ward.

Hoàng Liệt Ward, home to some 52,000 households with more than 8,000 children under the age of five, has only three public nursery schools and over 50 private ones.

With the number of apartment dwellers in the ward growing, children, especially in the Linh Đàm urban area, are more disadvantaged than those from other areas. The number of uneducated children here is higher than other areas. The fact was pointed out at a recent educational conference by leaders of Hà Nội’s Department of Education and Training, and the people’s committees of Hoàng Mai District and Hoàng Liệt Ward.

On the other side of the city, the Mễ Trì Hạ urban area is home to hundreds of resettlement households, but there are only four or five private nursery schools demanding high tuition fees. A number of parents have to send their children back to the schools in their hometowns.

A lack of educational facilities is common at apartment complexes, including those in the Nam Trung Yên urban area in Cầu Giấy District.

Dozens of skyscrapers loom over the area, however, the two patches of land nearby, which are planned to be used for schools, are currently car parks.

Poor supervision

A resident of Nam An Khánh area in Hoài Đức District, named Chu Kh in the Lao Động (Labourer) newspaper, said that at a parental meeting for An Khánh Secondary school, the teacher announced that from the upcoming school year, 2018-19, the school will only admit students living in traditional residential quarters, not those residing in new apartment complexes.

Nguyễn Phan Minh, head of the Education Division of Hoài Đức District told the newspaper that due to a lack of investment in infrastructure, the public school system was not meeting the demands of a surging population and a rising number of students in the district.

Minh said that the teacher’s explanation about admittance was not justified.

“Children have a right to go to school in the area where their family has registered. However, if the population is growing and schools cannot meet the demand, the school leaders must ask local authorities and investors to share solutions,” Minh said.

Architect Đào Ngọc Nghiêm, Vice Chairman of the Hà Nội Department of Planning and Urban Development blamed the problem on a lack of attention from city officials with regards to planning and population distribution.

Nghiêm said that "educational socialisation is a very important issue, which needs a balance between socialisation and the rights of children to be universally educated".

“We need to consider which ones should be socialised and which ones need State investment,” he said.

He added that most school construction projects at apartment complexes had been slow as local authorities loosen the management of investors. "Under current mechanisms, the educational sector cannot interfere in the construction progress of a school. The responsibility belongs to local authorities," he said.

Lê Ngọc Quang, deputy director of Hà Nội’s Department of Education and Training said that the municipal People’s Council was conducting supervision at district-level to review the situation and prepare for a question and answer session in the upcoming meeting. — VNS