Education
HCM City parents attempt to select best schools
  • | NLD, dtinews | April 18, 2013 11:23 AM

Many parents in big cities have been racing to send their children to prestigious schools.

 

First-grade students at Vo Truong Toan Primary School in HCM City’s District 10

In HCM City, parents are paying great attention to famous primary schools such as Nguyen Binh Khiem, Le Ngoc Han, Dinh Tien Hoang, Hoang Dieu and Luong The Vinh.

Besides the quality of the teachers other factors such as the condition of the school and extracurricular activities are influencing parents on their decisions.

The HCM City People’s Committee has banned primary schools to receive students who do not have permanent residence in the locality where the schools are located, but many students are still accepted.

Vo Ngoc Thu, head of District 5’s Department of Education and Training, said the department had detected a prestigious school taking many students who had legally gained permanent residence registration at the same time.

After the inspection, it turned out to be that these students had their permanent residence moved to the locality for the purpose of attending the school.

Besides the permanent residence change, many parents voluntarily sponsor schools so that they can have their children admitted, according to Mrs. Thu.

To deal with the situation, this district will work with enrollment steering boards of wards to tighten control over permanent residency options. Permanent residence must be registered before January, 2013. Additionally, people who register permanent residence must be blood-relations with the owner of the house.

Dr. Le Ngoc Diep, head of the Primary Education Division under the HCM City Department of Education and Training, said families often has from one to two children, therefore, they want to invest more for them, particularly learning. Therefore, sending their children to a good school is a legitimate demand. However, he added that the quality of primary teachers in HCM City is relatively equal. Schools with fewer students mean pupils receive greater attention.

Dinh Thien Can, head of District 1’s Department of Education and Training said, not all prestigious school teachers are better. He added that for example qualified teacher contests at District 1 showed that all teachers who won prizes were from schools which are not famous.

Dr. Nguyen Kim Dung, deputy head of the Education Research Institute at Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogics, said the quality of public schools was not necessarily the same; therefore, parents were keen to select a good school for their children. To solve the problem, it was essential to improve weak schools. If the situation is not improved, school heads should be changed.

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