HÀ NỘI — A land fund shortage has been blamed for overcrowding in Hà Nội public primary schools, forcing students to attend school on weekends in several areas.

In Cầu Giấy District, there is only one public primary school in Dịch Vọng Hậu Ward which has a population of 23,000-25,000 people. As a result, as many as 60 children study together in one class, the Voice of Việt Nam (VoV) online newspaper reported.

A similar situation affects Hoàng Mai District’s Hoàng Liệt Ward, where the total population is estimated at over 52,200. The Ward’s only public primary school can not meet demand. The school has only 40 classrooms but has 48 classes which must take turns studying.

In Ba Đình District, Nguyễn Bá Ngọc Primary School was forced to give some of their students one weekday off and Saturday lessons, due to the shortage of classrooms. According to Dương Thị Thu, deputy head of the primary school, they plan to build a new school large enough to accommodate the students at No 18, alley 294 in Đội Cấn Street. But due to land clearance troubles, the plan is at a standstill for now.

Solving problems

Tống Xuân Duy, chairman of the People’s Committee of Dịch Vọng Hậu Ward, said the committee asked the capital’s People’s Committee to review its planning in order to provide more land funds for building schools in the district.

"After review, delayed construction projects for offices and residential buildings should be ended and the associated land funds repurposed to build more schools," Duy said. "The local administration and residents both really desire that more schools be built in the ward soon."

Meanwhile, Tạ Văn Hải, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee of Hoàng Liệt Ward, said the ward now had 92 residential buildings, each accommodating about 800 households. But no additional schools were built when new residential buildings were constructed. This caused overcrowding of the only primary school in the ward, he said.

"Before approving a project to build a residential building, authorised agencies should consider whether or not current infrastructure, including schools, is sufficient to meet the demands of the projected population," Hải said.

“More schools should be built along with more residential buildings,” he said. "That way we could end the overcrowding situation soon."

Trần Ngọc Chính, head of the Việt Nam Urban Development Planning Association, said each ward of the city should calculate how many schools they need and how much land funding they have. Then they should submit reports to authorised agencies to explore feasible solutions, he said.

Chính said workshops and factories should also be moved to other places to save land for building schools. As for troubles with land clearance, local administrations should talk with local residents and issue appropriate compensation, he said.

Nguyễn Văn Quý, of the city’s Education and Training Department, said the department was working with the capital’s People’s Committee to permit primary schools to construct additional storeys on their buildings to provide more classrooms for students for the short term. — VNS