Kids plays at a kindergarten in Kiên Giang Province. The new school year is set to begin on September 5. VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Đạt

HCM CITY — With the new school year set to start on September 5 most schools around the country are fully prepared to welcome students though a few others are worried about a shortage of classrooms.

In HCM City, for instance, staffs at many schools including Rạng Đông Kindergarten in Tân Phú District and Võ Văn Tần Secondary School in Tân Bình District have cleaned up the campus and classrooms.

Rạng Đông’s outdoor playground and Võ Văn Tần’s tables and chairs have got a fresh coat of paint.

A city's Department of Education and Training report shows 1,500 new classrooms will be put into use as more than 1.7 million students from the kindergarten to high school level come to school.

The number of students will increase by 75,000 this year.

The city’s neighbouring province of Bình Dương this month finishes construction of 19 new schools. Many existing schools have several new facilities and toilets.

Several existing schools such as Mỹ Phước Primary School in Bến Cát District and Lý Thường Kiệt Primary School and An Bình Primary School in Dĩ An Ward, which lack classrooms, are planning to rent classrooms from private schools to meet the needs of an increasing number of students.

Bình Dương will have 31,000 additional students as more and more people come to the province to work.

Shortage

But many provinces like Kiên Giang, Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An face a shortage of classrooms and teachers.

According to Kiên Giang's Department of Education and Training, the province has a shortage of around 1,000 teachers and 1,000 classrooms.

Nghệ An Province's Department of Education and Training said many classrooms have deteriorated and need to be replaced.

Phan Văn Thiết, deputy head of the education and training division in the province’s Kỳ Sơn District, said almost all classrooms in areas affected by two floods last August are virtually unusable.

The province has allocated VNĐ14 billion (US$6 million) for renovating these classrooms for temporary use.

The province’s Quế Phong District has a shortage of more than 41 classrooms.

In the mountainous border district of Quan Sơn in Thanh Hóa Province, the last floods destroyed 10 schools. Construction of temporary ones are being sped up and expected to be completed within a week.  

In Mường Lát District, nine schools were affected by the last floods. Their staff and volunteers cleaned up the mud deposited by the floods last week.

The Việt Nam Education Publishing House Limited Company plans to supply nearly 110 million textbook copies this year.

As of mid-July all provinces and cities have received its textbooks.

This academic year will be the last one to use textbooks under the existing curriculum. VNS