Parents shed tears looking at their children's classroom at a public school in Ho Chi Minh City

TPO - Seeing with their own eyes the degraded classrooms, damaged desks and chairs, and overcrowded classes, parents whose children study at a public school in Ho Chi Minh City were heartbroken and moved to tears.

Talking to reporters, many parents whose children study at Vinh Tan Primary School (Vinh Tan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) choked up and said that they were in tears when they saw the infrastructure here.

“Normally, when I pick up my child at the school gate, I let him go to class and then return. A few days ago, after attending the parent-teacher conference, I left with a heavy heart. I didn’t think his classroom would be in such disrepair. The walls are peeling, and the desks and chairs are damaged and rusty,” said Mr. C., a parent whose child studies at Vinh Tan Primary School.

Desks and chairs in classrooms at Vinh Tan Primary School are in disrepair.

Also having a child studying at this school, Ms. L. said that she could not believe that in Ho Chi Minh City, she could see such degraded school facilities.

According to the reporter's records, the paint on the classroom wall surface is peeling off in patches, no longer sticking, creating bumps, dents, rough, unsightly. Meanwhile, the tables and chairs are deformed, the iron bars are rusty.

Regarding the degraded facilities, the representative of Vinh Tan Primary School said that this is a densely populated area, to meet the demand, the school had previously invested in building a new building within the old school's land. However, the school is still overloaded and continues to use the old classrooms.

According to regulations, for primary school, the class size should not exceed 35 students. However, due to the densely populated area, the class size at this school is up to 50 students. The school has reported and proposed to the superiors to arrange funding for upgrading, while waiting, students have to sit in the old class.

The wall in the classroom has deteriorated.

The student's seats look miserable.

Ho Chi Minh City education sector strives to overcome difficulties after merger

A representative of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City said that in the 2025-2026 school year, the city will put into use 77 school buildings with 1,571 new classrooms, an increase of 1,209 classrooms compared to the previous school year.

Specifically, Area 1 (formerly Ho Chi Minh City) has 59 schools that have been repaired, upgraded, expanded, and completely rebuilt, including 12 newly built buildings. Area 2 (formerly Binh Duong) has 14 schools, including 7 upgraded and expanded buildings, 2 newly built buildings, and 5 replacement buildings on old land or newly built at new land locations. Area 3 (formerly Ba Ria - Vung Tau ) has 4 schools, including 3 newly built buildings and 1 replacement building on old land.

After merging Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City has become the place with the largest and most diverse educational scale in the country, with more than 3,500 educational institutions and nearly 2.6 million students.

According to the leader of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the merger brings many advantages to the industry, but also poses many challenges such as large administrative boundaries, diverse types from rural to urban and island communes, special zones; uneven physical facilities between localities, especially in difficult and densely populated areas.

Rusty classroom door frame

Vinh Tan Ward has nearly 62,000 people (not including temporary residents). With a large number of students, Vinh Tan Primary School is overloaded.

In that context, the education sector of Ho Chi Minh City has been focusing on researching solutions to ensure the most suitable quality and teaching conditions. In particular, promoting the construction of schools to ensure the target of 300 classrooms/10,000 people of school age. Ho Chi Minh City's goal is to ensure 100% of students have a place to study, reducing the number of students/class and class/school.

Previously, Ho Chi Minh City aimed to add about 4,500 classrooms in 2025. However, based on the current situation and the limited time left in the year, the Ho Chi Minh City education sector estimates that by the end of this year, it will only be able to build about 2,700 classrooms.

Also related to the education sector, the reporter received feedback from parents about the "voluntary" collection of money at school. According to the feedback, after the parents' meeting, the president formed a group to solicit opinions on each student contributing 400,000 VND to build a roof and curtains for classrooms at HM Kindergarten (Binh Duong Ward, Ho Chi Minh City). "The State has policies to support students, we are very happy, but through the parents' association, many schools still find ways to collect more. Of course, parents have the right to refuse to contribute, but thinking that anything is beneficial for their children, they reluctantly accept" - a parent shared.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/phu-huynh-roi-nuoc-mat-nhin-phong-hoc-cua-con-tai-truong-cong-lap-o-tphcm-post1779764.tpo