Hanoi reviews school network planning

TPO - In the 2025-2026 school year, Hanoi will have 2,954 schools at all levels, but at the high school level, there will only be more than 200 public and private schools. Before the new school year, the leaders of the City People's Committee requested the Department of Education and Training and the People's Committees of communes and wards to review the planning of the school network at all levels to suit the 2-level local government model and to suit reality.

Lack of schools puts pressure on students

According to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, preparing for the new school year, Hanoi is expanding the scale of schools with 2,954 schools at all levels, meeting the learning needs of nearly 2.3 million students across the city.

Of which, there are 2,310 public schools from kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, high school, the rest are private schools. However, it can be seen that the number of public schools at high school level is currently too small (as of the 2024-2025 school year, the whole city has only 119 schools, next school year there will be 3 more schools in operation, bringing the number to 122 schools). Meanwhile, there are about 813 schools at preschool level, 728 schools at primary level, and about 650 schools at secondary level.

Perspective of Do Muoi High School, a public high school that has been in operation since this school year.

In the coming school year, the whole city will have an increase of about 60,000 students at all levels compared to the previous school year. This locality has made great efforts to build 43 new schools in one school year, however, there are only 3 high schools including: Do Muoi High School, Phuc Thinh High School, Cau Giay High School (not yet in operation), the rest are still mainly at preschool and primary levels.

There are too few public high schools and a lack of places for students, so every year the 10th grade entrance exam in Hanoi always makes students stressed and pressured to win a "ticket" to study at a public school.

Among the public high schools currently in Hanoi, it is easy to see that the number of schools in the inner city is very small. If calculated by old districts, each district has only 2-3 schools while the number of students graduating from junior high school every year is very large. The competition rate is high, the standard score in schools in the inner city, densely populated areas is always sky high. There are students who, after 4 years of studying, score 8 points/subject on the exam but choose their wishes poorly and still fail to get into public schools.

Build more public schools

The rate of students admitted to grade 10 public high schools in Hanoi last school year was 64%, a 3% increase compared to the previous school year.

Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City, the number of students passing public school entrance exams for the 2025-2026 school year reached more than 80%. The leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said that by 2030, the target is to have the rate of students transferring from junior high school to high school and other levels reach more than 90%.

Experts say that the current solution is that the city needs to invest in building public high schools to increase the number of places to study and relieve pressure on students. Currently, when implementing a two-level local government, some ward and commune agencies are left empty, the city can repair, renovate and convert their functions into schools, which would be a good solution.

According to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, the City People's Council Resolution in 2022, for schools under the Department of Education and Training, there are 139 projects to be repaired and newly built, then decided to reduce 9 projects at all levels but mainly at high school level.

Regarding progress, up to now, Hanoi has approved investment policies for 90 projects. Of which, 63/90 projects have started construction; 11/90 projects have been completed. Investment policies have not been approved for 3 projects, specifically because Cau Giay has 2 projects including rebuilding Yen Hoa High School and Cau Giay High School, but the Ward People's Committee is implementing procedures to locally adjust the zoning plan with the target of 4 floors to 5 floors and 1 basement for parking. The old Thanh Oai district has 1 project to build a high school on a plot of land in Thanh Ha Urban Area, but the investor has not yet handed over the land for construction.

The Department of Education and Training said that in the 2025-2026 school year, with great efforts, the sector has only increased the public school enrollment target by 3% to about 5,000 students, most of which are repairs and additional units to increase the number of classrooms.

In the coming time, the industry will continue to advise the City to allocate sufficient resources for education , review, supplement, and re-plan the network of educational and training facilities to meet standards and regulations, ensuring educational quality.

At the recent 2024-2025 school year summary conference of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong requested the Department of Education and Training and People's Committees of communes and wards to review the planning of school networks at all levels in accordance with the 2-level local government model and in accordance with reality.

Mr. Phong was concerned that a ward had not been allowed to build a school for many years due to a lack of schools, so when permission was granted, two elementary schools were built next to each other, both to provide space for students to study and to make it easier to verify that they met national standards. He warned that the development trend of urban areas in the world , after a while, will have population fluctuations, the birth rate will decrease, and then it will lead to a surplus of schools.

In addition, the Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee also said that the education sector's work of streaming students after secondary school is currently "not effective" and needs to be considered.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Chairman of the Board of Dinh Tien Hoang High School (Hanoi) said that Hanoi needs to have a policy to invest in developing educational facilities, quickly expand and build new schools at all levels to meet the learning needs of students when the population is growing rapidly.

Of the 2,310 public schools at all levels in Hanoi today, there are only 122 high schools. This is a very low number, not meeting the learning needs of students in the whole city at this level.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/ha-noi-ra-soat-lai-quy-hoach-mang-luoi-truong-hoc-post1777972.tpo