Authorities of Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi will issue new policies to encourage enterprises and investors to build preschools in the city in the future. The move aims to bring education chance to more children of this age, said Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao. The population of Hanoi is expected to be 7.4 million people in 2020 and 9.5 million people in 2030. The minimum school area per each pupil is eight square meters in inner city and 15 square meters in the suburbs. To serve urban and rural children, the city needs to build an additional 1,014 preschools and 310 primary schools, Thao added. Hanoi has targeted to complete the preschool education universalization in 2014, as part of the local authorities’ efforts to ensure benefits of the children. Currently, Hanoi has 96 universities and colleges, taking the lead among localities in Vietnam. The city also has more than 679 preschools, of which 271 meet national standards. In fact, many local children under five years old find hard to get a seat at state-owned pre-schools, local parents complained, adding that their infrastructure is also a matter of special concern. (Vietnam News July 18 p6)
