Vietnam's largest city to build 4,500 more classrooms

The new classrooms aim to increase the ratio to 300 classrooms for every 10,000 children.

HCMC currently has around 50,600 classrooms, providing studying space for over 1.7 million students and kindergarteners. City leaders said there are still many primary and secondary schools with more students in a class than it is supposed to be, and the conditions of playgrounds and libraries are not ensured, impacting teaching quality.

The standard classroom size is 45 students per middle school class, and 35 students per primary school class.

HCMC previously aimed for there to be 300 classrooms per 10,000 people of age 3-18 in 2020. However, that ratio is inconsistent among districts. By August 2023, the city had only reached a ratio of 294 classrooms per 10,000 people.

Every year, the city adds 10,000-15,000 students to each grade, according to calculations by the Department of Education and Training. With such a rate, in order to reach the aimed ratio, the city would need over 8,000 new classrooms.

To build the new classrooms, the HCMC People's Committee said it would relocate and reclaim abandoned land plots, and re-allocate land in new urban areas, relocation areas and populated neighborhoods to build schools. It would also increase incentives regarding land policies for the construction and investment into educational facilities.

The city expects to invest in 277 projects, totaling over 5,900 new classrooms. The total investment from the national budget is over VND32 trillion ($1.3 billion).

These projects would be split into three categories. The first category, entailing 118 projects with over 2,800 rooms, are schools that have already been included in investment plans for the 2016-2025 period.

The second category involves feasible structures whose funding can be hastened, even if they have yet to be included in investment plans. They entail 76 projects with more than 1,350 classrooms. The city wants the projects in this category to begin construction in 2024 and be completed in 2025.

The third category would entail 83 projects with 1,700 classrooms. These projects pose no legal and land challenges, and relevant issues can be resolved for quicker investments.

The city also plans to mobilize funds for over 110 projects with over 2,300 classrooms, totaling over VND541 trillion, through public-private partnerships.