More gymnastics an impossible exercise for Hanoi schools

Physical Education lessons for students at Thanh Long Primary School in Hanoi must be held at the school’s entrance way

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) recently ordered schools to allot more space and time for gymnastics but schools in Hanoi are protesting that it is beyond their means at present.

The Ba Trieu Primary School in Hai Ba Trung District has five branches and students in four of them have to learn gymnastics in front of the school gate and on the sidewalk.

Only those studying at its branch at 173 Ba Trieu Street can share the common yard of the neighborhood.

The ministry has requested schools to have students do exercises once at break time for at least 10 minutes a day.

“Vehicles run like crazy just outside the school gate,” said the mother of a student at the Ba Trieu Primary School. “I feel worried about every gymnastic period.”

Nguyen Kim Dung, the school’s acting principal, said gymnastic teachers have to work very hard, teaching the students and protecting them from the traffic at the same time.

Every week, a teacher is assigned to work with the school guards at break time for the job, Dung said.

She said school year opening and closing ceremonies are organized at the Thong Nhat Park because the school does not have space to hold an assembly.

At Thang Long Primary School in Hoan Kiem District, more than 1,100 students study gymnastics in the classroom itself, said principal Phan Thi Thang.

Local colleges share the plight of not having space for sports and gymnastic activities.

Phan Van Linh, a student of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), said the school is too small. “We have to play football on the small concrete yard of the dormitory or hire a stadium.”

However, colleges in the area are many while the stadiums are few.

Sometimes students must book a stadium one week in advance, Linh said.

According to the new ministry regulations, schools have to create their own sports clubs and centers.

But the Hanoi USSH even lacks space for classrooms and has to build more stories to its buildings, said Nguyen Quoc Binh, deputy head of the school’s Office of Ideology, responsible for student affairs.

The school hires places in Thanh Xuan District’s cultural center for gymnastics classes, as does the Hanoi National Economics University.

Phung Khac Binh, head of the ministry’s Student Affairs Department, said the ministry understands the situation of land shortage at local schools, but the regulation was necessary to encourage the schools and local authorities to invest more in such facilities.

Reported by Tue Nguyen

Update from: http://www.thanhniennews.com/education/?catid=4&newsid=45363

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