Ho Chi Minh City breaks ground on $5.5mn school funded by private enterprise

The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by Le Quoc Phong, permanent deputy secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, and Vo Van Minh, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of the municipal People’s Council, along with leaders from city departments and agencies.

The school is being built on a site of more than one hectare on Binh Chuan 13 Street.

It will feature 40 classrooms, auxiliary facilities, and modern equipment meeting high-quality education standards.

Construction is expected to finish by July this year, allowing the school to open in the next academic year.

The project’s investment is entirely financed by property developer Phat Dat.

Speaking at the ceremony, Phong highlighted the city’s commitment to education following the merger of Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

He stressed that building more schools is vital to developing human resources and reassuring parents about their children’s future.

In addition to public investment in education, he emphasized that private-sector participation through socialized funding plays an important role in the city’s development.

This is the company’s second social project for Ho Chi Minh City, following the recent conversion of a long-vacant prime land lot into a public park, which was opened last Sunday to serve residents and visitors during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

The park site was originally planned for the Phan Dinh Phung sports hall project, located at 8 Vo Van Tan Street in Xuan Hoa Ward.

Phong called on Phat Dat Real Estate to coordinate closely with relevant agencies to ensure construction progress and provide appropriate equipment for teaching and learning.

He also requested authorities to prepare plans to receive and operate the school so that it can begin operations in the next academic year.

Nguyen Van Hieu, director of the municipal Department of Education and Training, said that Thuan Giao Ward has a large population following the merger, including many children of workers and laborers, leading to significant pressure on school capacity.

Due to a shortage of classrooms, no schools in the area are currently able to offer two-session school days, disadvantaging students.

The existing Binh Chuan 3 Elementary School currently has only 14 classrooms serving 28 classes.

The new school will help expand capacity and allow students to access the updated national curriculum, ensuring teaching and learning quality.

Ho Chi Minh City aims to reach 300 classrooms per 10,000 school-age residents.

In Thuan Giao alone, the city needs to build an additional two elementary schools with 103 classrooms, one middle school with 59 classrooms, and 12 high school classrooms to meet demand.