Hanoi supports boarding meals: Absolutely no negativity or group interests

“Absolutely do not allow negativity or group interests to occur in a very humane policy” is the direction of the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong to the capital's education sector in implementing the policy of supporting boarding meals for preschool and primary school students in the city from the 2025-2026 school year at the Hanoi 2024-2025 school year summary conference held on the morning of August 20.

The commune-level government is primarily responsible

From the 2025-2026 school year, following the direction of General Secretary To Lam, Hanoi has decided to support boarding meals for preschool and primary school students across the city at a rate of VND20,000/student/day. In disadvantaged areas, the support level is VND30,000. Currently, schools in the city have started allowing parents to register for boarding meals in the coming school year. The total budget of the capital for supporting boarding meals is about VND3,000 billion.

Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong said that this is a large number for Hanoi and very large for many localities. Hanoi's support of meals for preschool and primary school students is a very humane policy of the socialist regime, parents and students are very excited. However, through grasping public opinion, it shows that there are still many issues to discuss so that a humane policy is not implemented in a distorted way. Accordingly, Mr. Phong assigned the commune-level authorities to take primary responsibility for this issue.

"Do not loosen management, do not let schools act on their own, absolutely do not let negativity or group interests in a very humane policy. We should take care of our children's food and sleep in the same way," emphasized Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong, at the same time he requested the Hanoi Department of Education and Training and the city's Fatherland Front to strengthen inspection and supervision of this matter.

Education in the capital must be high quality education.

Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong said that Hanoi has identified 3 breakthroughs and 6 key tasks, of which improving the capital's human resources is the 3rd breakthrough, striving to make the capital's education truly high-quality education and international integration is one of the 6 tasks. Hanoi must be a pioneer in the new era, including education and training. This is also the task set by the Politburo for Hanoi.

To achieve this goal, Mr. Phong suggested that leaders of the city's education sector and leaders of 126 communes and wards have a deeper awareness of their roles, responsibilities, missions, and roles in education in the capital and the country.

He also noted that the Hanoi Education Department must take stronger action, not only encouraging but also developing plans to implement STEM education and creative education in schools, and making English the second foreign language, regardless of whether the schools are in the inner city or the suburbs. “Hanoi must do this because we have committed to the world when joining the UNESCO Creative Cities Network,” said Mr. Phong.

The Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee also directed the Hanoi Department of Education and Training to promote digital transformation and quickly build a database of teachers for the entire city, at all levels of education.

Mr. Phong paid special attention to the development of vocational education and said that reports of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training rarely mentioned this index.

“In all advanced cities in the world, the rate of students being transferred to vocational education is much higher than in Hanoi. Hanoi’s vocational education has many opportunities for development but also many challenges. There needs to be a separate conference on this issue right after September 2,” Mr. Phong directed.

Do not let commune-level officials without expertise manage education.

Regarding the implementation of two-level local government, one of the practical problems is that commune-level education managers do not have expertise in education. According to a report by the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, only 61% of cultural and social officers in communes and wards have professional expertise in education and training.

Faced with this situation, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong emphasized that Hanoi does not lack human resources and this is an issue that must be resolved immediately: "Absolutely after 3 months of operation, this situation must not happen."

In addition to the issue of education management personnel at the commune and ward levels, Mr. Phong also directed the People's Committees of communes and wards to promptly review the planning of the school network in coordination with the two-level local government. The planning must be practical but must be able to forecast the population size. Experience from developed countries such as Korea, China, and Japan shows that after about 20 years of high urbanization, there will be fluctuations in population: areas far from urban areas will gradually decrease and there will be an excess of schools. Hanoi should build inter-level general schools and the planning and construction must have the participation of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training to ensure suitability and avoid wasting the budget.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/ha-noi-ho-tro-bua-an-ban-tru-tuyet-doi-khong-de-xay-ra-tieu-cuc-loi-ich-nhom-202508201538213.htm