Physical education for students at many schools in HCM City remains out of reach.

Huynh Man Dat Primary School has no schoolyard, green space or even a gate 

Lam Son high School, in Binh Thach District is one of these schools. The two-storey school was built in 1955, and downstairs hallway is wider than the one on the second floor. Students are forced to use the larger hallway for exercise. However it can only accommodate about 10 at a time, while there are between 40 and 60 students per class.

Nguyen Kim Trung, the school's principal, said, "For years it has been a problem to find the space for physical exercise for our students during their breaks. It's impossible for all the students to exercise in the hall."

The same situation exists at several other schools in the city. Huynh Man Dat Primary School, in District No. 5, is a six-storey building without a yard, green space or even a gate.

The classroom windows are blocked by the walls of surrounding buildings. Whenever there is a power outage, the students are forced to stay home because it is too dark to study.

For physical exercise, over 650 students at the school are compelled to line up for their turns to go onto the rooftop.

Also located in District No. 5 is Tran Boi Co Secondary School. Over 3,000 students must share one 200-square metre yard, In order to make space for students to exercise, the school staff have to give up their offices.

On Monday mornings, for the routine flag salute, the school must divide the student into four groups and repeat the ceremony four times due to lack of space.

Many other schools in the city are in similar situation such as Ly Thai To Primary School in District No. 8, Kim Dong School in Go Vap District, Tran Quang Khai School in District No. 1, To Vinh Dien School in Binh Thach District,  and Vinh Xuyen School in District No. 6.