HCMC sets sights on becoming Asian education hub

The strategy, unveiled by its people's committee on Thursday, seeks to create a fair and conducive environment for lifelong learning for its citizens, enabling the development of a high-quality workforce to meet its development needs.

While it does not spell out specific criteria for "high quality" are, the people's committee has outlined nine specific objectives to be achieved by 2030:

-Ensure a class size of 30-35 students at all levels

-Ensure 100% of primary schools, 70% of middle schools and 80% of high schools have two sessions a day

-Ensure 80% of high school students can fluently communicate and learn in a foreign language, 100% of high school graduates have basic IT application skills and 50% achieve international computer literacy standards.

-Ensure 100% of secondary school students are proficient in at least one art and play at least one musical instrument and one sport.

-Have 60% of kindergartens, 80% of primary schools, 70% of middle schools, and 50% of public high schools meet national standards in terms of facilities.

-Ensure each district has at least two schools at each level (kindergarten, primary, middle school, high school) offering high-quality, advanced international integration programs.

-Target making 100% of schools in the city smart schools.

-Build four new high-quality multi-level schools in Thu Duc City, and Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts, each on a minimum area of five hectares.

-Reduce the number of educational staff paid by the city by 10% compared to 2021.

The city currently has nearly 1.7 million students, 90,000 teachers and more than 2,310 schools, with only 15% meeting national standards. Of the schools, 1,350 are public.