Schools in Vietnam Hanoi Overloaded Due to Migration

Kindergartens and primary schools in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi this year are seeing an increase in the number of applicants, mostly due to unmanaged migration into the city. Compared to the 2012-2013 school year, in the 2013-2014 school year, there are 11,000 more children entering primary school and 5,000 more entering kindergarten. Authorities are struggling to accommodate the boom in the number of school-age children. Besides building more classrooms, they adopt lottery at public schools. If a child does not get in, his or her parents will have to keep him/her at home or put him/her in a private school, which costs more and whose quality is unchecked. Some parents are said to pay teachers to get a place in a school and even then they’re still not sure if their child will get in. An increase in Hanoi’s population, mostly resulted from rising migration from other localities into the city, is the main reason. According to statistics by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO) released on April 1, 2009, Hanoi’s population is around 6.5 million, accounting for 7.5% of the country total. From 2001 to 2009, each year around 35,000 people migrated into the city. The speed of migration is also increasing, from 16,985 in 2001 to 46,240 in 2007 and 48,620 in 2009. 85% of the migrating population are between 15 and 29 years old and bring their children along when they migrate into the city. In 2012, Hanoi built 6,000 new classrooms. Public schools in Hanoi are perpetually overly crowded with around 50-60 students per classroom. The city has been dreaming of a low student/teacher ratio but if migration remains unchecked, the prospect is dim. (Phu Nu Thu Do – People’s Women Jun 12 p2)