Trần Đại Nghĩa High School for the Gifted Students has built a modern library. — Photo giaoducthoidai.vn

HCM CITY —  The HCM City Department of Education and Training plans to build modern libraries at 16 more high schools under a programme that provides preferential loans.                  

Dương Trí Dũng, head of the department’s planning and finance division, said the People's Committee has assigned his department with making high schools more modern.

Under the investment promotion programme, the education sector gets loans of up to VNĐ100 billion (US$4.3 million) for projects for seven years at preferential interest rates.

The cost of setting up an advanced modern library is nearly VNĐ15 billion ($646,200).

Schools should take the initiative to invest in their libraries to meet the requirements of a new national training programme, Dũng said.

The city will defray the interest on the loans.

The city currently has only one school, Trần Đại Nghĩa High School for the Gifted Students in District 1, with such a library, which was set up just this academic year. The library has nearly 9,000 printed books and more than 10,900 electronic books.

It has a learning management system installed to help teachers set up digital lectures and virtual software.

Speaking at a recent conference on methods to strengthen the establishment of modern and advanced libraries in city schools, Nguyễn Minh, principal of Trần Đại Nghĩa, said many parents were reluctant when asked to contribute to build the library, but they did.

Students can go to the library or just access its materials electronically from their classroom.

For many years the city has been spending nearly VNĐ3.4 trillion a year to build classrooms, and nearly VNĐ200 billion for buying teaching equipment.

But the money only meets the increasing need for facilities and classrooms since 40,000-60,000 students join schools each year.

So soliciting investment from other sources is needed to truly modernise schools. — VNS