HÀ NỘI — Students of Trần Nhân Tông High school in Hà Nội’s Hai Bà Trưng District will be relocated to two safe locations on Thursday following an order from Director of Hà Nội’s Department of Education and Training Chử Xuân Dũng.

Three 12th graders were hospitalised on Tuesday noon after being hit by a 1.2sq.m plaster piece that fell from the ceiling of the teacher’s meeting room. Students had been moved to study in this room as their classroom was dilapidated.

The students are stable now and out of hospital.

The two selected safe locations are Đoàn Kết-Hai Bà Trưng High school, and continuing education and vocational training centre in Hai Bà Trưng District.

The city’s Department of Education and Training will support the schools, Dũng said.

Phan Thanh Tùng, principal of Trần Nhân Tông School, said that the school built dozens of years ago was dilapidated. There are cracks on the walls and plaster pieces could fall off any time.

In 2013, the school reported its tumble-down infrastructure to the city’s Department of Education and Training and asked for the budget to repair the classrooms.

A budget of VNĐ54 billion (US$2.4 million) was allocated by the end of 2017 for the school’s reconstruction. However, due to difficulties in finding locations for temporary classrooms, the project’s management board could not execute the plan.

Lê Hồng Hải, director of continuing education and vocational training centre, said that 22 classrooms in the centre will be used for Trần Nhân Tông School’s students.

According to the city’s Department of Education and Training, Trần Nhân Tông High school is among the 40 schools in the city that are in a state of dilapidation.

In October 2017, a similar incident happened in the school. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Nguyễn Tuấn Đức, a 11th grader, told The Voice of Việt Nam: “I always bring a helmet along when sitting in the classroom to protect myself in case of incidents.”

“Most of the classrooms are old. I am afraid anything can happen any time. Teachers have advised us to stay away from peeled off areas and to not rush into the classrooms.” — VNS