LookAtVietnam – Burgeoning demand for pre-school education in the expanded capital is being hindered by the lack of 700,000sq.m for construction of new facilities, said city education officials.

Children learn to draw at Binh Minh Kindergarten in the Tay Ho District of Ha Noi. A project by the city’s Department of Education and Training will focus on acquiring land for school construction.

More than 400,000 children each year attend the schools.

Despite the large attendance rate, statistics show that about 80 per cent of children in the city between one and three years of age, and 17 per cent over three years old, are not sent to nursery school, in part due to the school shortage.

According to the department’s representative, as many as 100 pre-schools are needed to meet the increasing demand.

“The number of kindergartens throughout the city remains low, even in new urban areas”, said head of the department’s pre-school education office Nguyen Thi Lan Huong.

The quality of school facilities generally remains low as well.

At this time more than 2,000 schools offer classes in poorly constructed buildings and 1,900 temporary classes are still operating in the city. As many as 1,159 of the 1,662 schools in Ha Noi’s expanded areas fail to meet the required standards.

Not up to standard

The department’s recent survey revealed that most facilities at schools in rural areas, including kitchens, playgrounds and toilets, do not meet the standards. For example, five out of six kindergartens in Thanh Cao Commune, Thanh Oai District don’t have kitchens, forcing children to eat lunch at home or carry cooking with them.

Nguyen Huu Do, director of the Ha Noi Department of Education and Training, announced that a project to enhance the quality of pre-school education in the city by 2015 had been approved by the municipal People’s Committee. “The department has completed the final project plans for submission to the Ha Noi People’s Council in the near future,” said Huong.

She said the education sector would focus on acquiring land for schools and abolish temporary schools throughout 2010.

Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Council Ngo Thi Doan Thanh also set requirements for city education agencies to improve hygiene at pre-schools for health reasons, especially in rural areas. She also urged them to attract 100 per cent of five-year-olds to schools for the next academic year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News