In an official dispatch sent to the Department of Education and Training regarding the implementation of primary education tasks for the 2024-2025 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training requires primary schools to ensure a class size of 35 students as prescribed in the primary school charter.

As one of the districts with the second highest student population in Hanoi, Ms. Teo Thi Thanh Mai, Principal of Le Quy Don Primary School (Ha Dong) assessed that this is a requirement that is close to the content of the new general education program. However, for localities with high population growth, especially Hanoi, this problem is very difficult to solve.

For example, at Le Quy Don Primary School, in recent years, class size has fluctuated between 40-50 students per class. Large class sizes make it difficult for teachers to teach and tutor students.

“Reducing class size to 35 students will create a comfortable learning environment for children and provide them with closer attention. This is what both schools and parents want, but it is not easy to achieve in Hanoi, and depends on many factors,” said Ms. Mai.

According to the female principal, most primary schools in Ha Dong district are overloaded due to the increasing number of people buying houses, living in and living in apartment buildings. Residents in the ward and schools must accept students because they have equal rights.

Ms. Mai assessed that when classrooms are limited and teachers are not increased, arranging no more than 35 students per class in the new school year is not feasible and requires a specific roadmap to be able to implement. If suddenly reducing from 50 students to 35 students per class, where will the remaining students study and how will they study? We need to calculate the specific factors.

Ms. Pham Thi Le Hang, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Dong district, said that Ha Dong is a locality that is under a lot of pressure in terms of enrollment in new urban areas with large populations but not enough schools and classrooms. A typical example is Thanh Ha urban area, which is located in Thanh Oai district according to the enrollment zoning, but due to the lack of schools, children have "flooded" to Ha Dong district.

"According to the enrollment plan, it is necessary to ensure that 100% of 6-year-old children can enter grade 1, so some schools in the district have to accept more than 55 students per class," Ms. Hang said, emphasizing that 35 students per class is the desire of leaders at all levels as well as many schools, not only in Hanoi but all localities strive to achieve this goal, but it is very difficult to achieve.

Ms. Hang hopes that the city can allocate more land for education to achieve the ideal number of students as prescribed, while at the same time creating conditions for private schools to develop to relieve pressure on the number of students in public schools.

Previously, the Department of Education and Training advised the People's Committee of Ha Dong district to invest in building new schools. The district also directed the conversion of some land funds for education to build schools. The reasonable enrollment zoning in wards, as well as creating conditions for non-public educational institutions to develop, was strongly promoted by the leaders of Ha Dong district.

Regarding the new school year 2024 - 2025, a representative of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Dong district informed that most primary schools in the district have reduced the number of students per class to less than 50. The reason is because the number of primary school students this year has increased less than last year.

Not only Ha Dong district, but also Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, Nam Tu Liem districts… many classrooms are also overloaded. Although in recent years, districts have invested in building new, repairing, expanding classrooms, and separating schools, the number of students in classes has not decreased significantly.

Ms. Le Thi Thanh Tam, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Tu Liem District, said that at public primary schools in the district, the number of students per class fluctuates around 48 students, with an average increase of about 5,000 students per year.

"In 2024, Nam Tu Liem district will build 4 new schools, including 2 primary schools, 1 kindergarten and 1 middle school. At the same time, it will upgrade, repair and build more classrooms for 11 schools at all levels to reduce pressure on schools, but it still cannot ensure the number of students as required by the Ministry of Education and Training," said Ms. Tam.

According to this person, the regulation of 35 students per class will help reduce the pressure on teachers. However, this number can be implemented in rural and mountainous areas, where the population is sparse and there are few students. In big cities like Hanoi, this requirement is difficult to achieve when land is limited and the population is increasing rapidly.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, last school year, some localities, urban areas and large cities experienced class overload, with some places having nearly 50 students per class, which greatly affected the quality of teaching and learning.

Therefore, to prevent the situation of exceeding the number of students per class, the Ministry of Education and Training requires schools to ensure the number of students per class according to the regulations of primary schools of 35 students per class and at the same time have enough minimum teaching equipment. Ensure the ratio of 1.5 teachers per class and the structure of teachers is sufficient to teach subjects and educational activities.

The Ministry of Education and Training has given specific instructions for schools to organize 2 sessions/day, with no more than 7 lessons per day, each lesson lasting 35 minutes. The teaching plan must consist of at least 9 sessions/week with 32 lessons/week. The plan must ensure a reasonable allocation between the contents, helping students complete their tasks.

In the 2024-2025 school year, the number of students in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City increased sharply.

According to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, in the 2024-2025 school year, Hanoi's primary school enrollment will continue to increase sharply. It is expected that the number of first graders will increase by 7,000; sixth graders will increase by 58,000; and tenth graders will increase by 5,000 compared to the previous school year. The city plans to build 30-40 new schools to accommodate students of all levels.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the 2024-2025 school year, the city is expected to increase by 24,097 students, including 17,288 public and 6,809 non-public schools, of which high school students will have the highest increase with 16,999 students.

Currently, in some districts, there are many primary schools with a class size of over 45 students - this somewhat limits the management and teaching quality. To meet the demand for learning space, it is expected that before the 2024 - 2025 school year, 23 projects with 476 new classrooms will be put into use, of which the number of classrooms will increase by 412.