Parents shed tears looking at their child's classroom: Ho Chi Minh City Chairman issues 'Ultimatum'

On the morning of September 22, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc signed a document sent to relevant units and localities, directing to immediately resolve the incident related to the reflection of Tien Phong newspaper.

The document stated that recently, the newspaper reported that some schools in the city have seriously degraded facilities, directly affecting the quality of teaching and learning, causing frustration among parents and people. To promptly remedy the above situation, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee requested units to take immediate action.

The Department of Education and Training shall urgently preside over and coordinate with the People's Committees of wards, communes, and special zones to conduct a general review of facilities and teaching equipment at all public schools; classify the level of damage and degradation; advise on a comprehensive treatment plan, including urgent repairs and new investment plans in areas with rapid population growth to avoid overload, and submit to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee before September 30, 2025.

In the document, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee noted that, in the immediate future, for Vinh Tan Primary School mentioned by Tien Phong newspaper, the Department of Education and Training is assigned to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Finance to urgently coordinate and immediately arrange tables, chairs and necessary equipment to replace them, ensuring safe and adequate learning conditions for students; complete and report the implementation results to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee before September 23, 2025.

The student chairs were damaged but the school still used them.

The damaged chairs were removed from the classroom to be replaced with new ones.

The Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee assigned the People's Committees of wards, communes, and special zones to proactively arrange and advance funds from the local budget according to regulations to immediately repair serious damage, ensuring safety for students and teachers; review and immediately report schools at risk of insecurity and degraded classrooms to the Department of Education and Training before September 25, 2025.

Assign the Department of Finance to coordinate with the Department of Education and Training to advise the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on the plan to allocate funds and arrange capital to repair, upgrade, and build new school facilities in the 2025-2030 period according to regulations.

The Office of the City People's Committee monitors and urges the implementation; synthesizes and reports to the Chairman of the City People's Committee the implementation results before October 2, 2025.

The Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City requested Heads of departments, branches, Chairmen of People's Committees of wards, communes and special zones to seriously implement.

The representative of the Department of Education and Training said that currently, the units have handed over 284 sets of 2-seat desks and chairs (796 seats). Of which, 170 sets are new and 114 sets are used but still very new.

Classrooms have been degraded at Vinh Tan Primary School.

Previously, Tien Phong newspaper reported that many parents of students at Vinh Tan Primary School were heartbroken when they saw their children's classrooms in disrepair, with old desks and chairs, peeling tabletops, and rusty table legs.

In addition, due to the densely populated area and the increase in students after the administrative unit merger, the school had to arrange 50 students per class (the regulation is no more than 35 students per class) but still lacked classrooms. Therefore, the school had to temporarily use the old desks and chairs and 5 classrooms in 2 old buildings.

Immediately after the newspaper reported, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City urgently directed Vinh Tan ward and Vinh Tan Primary School.