The number of primary students in Bien Hoa city will explode this year despite resource problems affecting the province's education sector.
The number of primary students in Bien Hoa city will explode this year despite resource problems affecting the province's education sector.
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About 15,000 children in the city will enter the first grade this year with several schools ill-prepared to cope with the additional students.
Tran Thi Lan, who registered her son to study at the Trang Dai primary school in Trang Dai ward, was forced to wait two days to register due to the number of parents at the school.
"We are both workers so cannot afford for our son to study in private school," she said.
In a response, the provincial education sector has said that students may have to study three or four shifts per day in turns, due to a lack of upgrades and new facilities to cope with the surge.
Many schools have raised concerns this will force students to study during noontime and that more is needed to cope with the increase in registered pupils.
Schools in Long Binh ward are increasing class sizes to up to 60 pupils to prevent students from having to attend classes during noontime.
One state primary school in Trang Dai ward, will have to accommodate nearly 100 classes of 4,400 students, with more than 1,000 students said to be first graders.
Meanwhile, some schools have resorted to renting rooms at local universities to reduce overcrowding in the short-term.
Trang Dai primary school said the school will have to use 10 classrooms at the local Dong Nai Technology University to cope with large student numbers.
In Long Binh ward, the three state primary schools will also have to rent rooms to accommodate 1,400 students who will start first grade this year.
Other cities are fast tracking the construction of new schools to keep up with demand.
Bien Hoa city, which is home to 60 primary schools, including state and private institutions, will host more than 69,000 students, according to the Department of Education and Training.
In an effort to reduce overcrowding, the city has launched a project to build and upgrade five primary schools in five wards, including Trang Dai, Long Binh Tan and Tan Hiep. Buu Long and An Binh wards will also receive upgrades, with forecasts for completion by next year.
The upgrades will ease shortages for 2-3 years, according to Bui Van Phuong, the department's Deputy Director.
Construction of a second primary school in Trang Dai ward is said to be completed and ready for public use by the beginning of 2014.
With no plans for additional schools to be built in the area, it is expected classroom shortages will resume by 2017.
Meanwhile many private primary schools in the province are said to be struggling with enrolments due to high school-fees, Phuong added.
Phuong said that greater investment was needed in building and upgrading schools in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.
He said the department had proposed for the Dong Nai People's Committee to develop laws on an appropriate ratio of schools per 300 households in an area.
Under the proposal, investors will be required to build schools alongside residential housing to prevent future shortages.
(Source: VNS)
