LookAtVietnam – Two new high schools and 632 new classrooms for 51 other schools will be built in the coming school year, according to Huynh Cong Minh,

HCM City has 1,504 schools including kindergartens, primary, secondary and high schools.

He said the department would spend VND657 billion (US$36 million) on building the new classrooms, drawing funds mainly from the State budget and sponsors.

The city plans to build the Hiep Binh High School in Thu Duc district and Tay Thanh High School in Tan Phu district in order to meet increasing demand.

Minh called on all districts in the city to build at least one school of international or national standards.

The city should mobilise more funds from sponsors and other sources to develop education, he said.

In the 2008-09 school year, 317 schools were built and 926 new classrooms were put into operation, with a total capital of VND720.5 billion ($40 million), the conference heard.

The department also spent VND27.7 billion ($1.5 million) from the State budget in addition to VND1.5 billion ($84 million) from sources that schools are allowed to access, including school fees and parents’ donations to buy equipment, books and training.

Minh informed the conference that the city People’s Committee had approved increasing investment for the education sector by VND31 million ($1,741) - VND45 million ($2,528) per teacher.

For kindergarten teachers, the salary for each teacher would be increased by VND250,000 per month.

Teachers and education officials in needy areas will respectively get an additional monthly allowance of VND500,000 and VND300,000. Only officials with low salary will be eligible for this increment.

The conference discussed ways to strengthen IT application in management and teaching as well as making lesson plans. The department said it would open more IT training courses in order to boost IT teacher numbers.

The department would also employ more teachers for schools and have preferential policies to attract teachers, especially for teaching music, drawing and computer science in the city’s outlying areas.

HCM City has 1,504 schools including kindergartens, primary, secondary and high schools with 1.2 million students and 29,039 teachers.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News