The latest flex for Ho Chi Minh City parents? Their children’s school sleeping spaces

Photos of boarding dormitories featuring bunk beds, neatly arranged pillows and blankets have attracted considerable attention.

Some parents have even jokingly described the facilities as ‘luxury beds.’

Recent visits by Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper to several schools found that many have invested in separate, clean and well-ventilated sleeping areas to help students get better rest during the school day.

Tuoi Tre on Thursday visited Nguyen Van To Secondary School in Dien Hong Ward, where more than 1,300 students have registered for the full-day program.

The school currently has more than 650 metal bunk beds arranged across nine sleeping rooms.

“Students bring their own pillows and blankets. They take them home at the weekend for cleaning and bring them back at the beginning of the following week,” said a representative from the school.

“Midday sleep is very important for children of this age, so we want to provide them with a private space where they can rest better.

Students sleep according to grade level, with separate areas for boys and girls.

The school also considers students’ physical size when assigning beds.

Even students who live nearby prefer school naps

Bunk-bed sleeping arrangements have been maintained for about a decade at Thu Duc High School in Thu Duc Ward.

Principal Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc said the school currently has around 1,600 beds, while about 2,000 students register for the full-day program each year.

Those who cannot be accommodated in the dormitory sleep in classrooms, where desks and chairs are rearranged to create temporary sleeping spaces.

“Some students live relatively close to school but still prefer to stay here because they can eat and sleep on schedule,” Truc said.

Tuoi Tre also found that several other schools in Ho Chi Minh City have converted underused functional rooms into sleeping areas equipped with bunk beds.

Linh Trung High School and Saigon Practice High School under Saigon University are among the schools parents have praised for their relatively well-organized midday sleeping facilities.

Le Thi Ha, whose child will enter Grade 6 at Nguyen Van To Secondary School this year, said she felt reassured knowing that her child could sleep in a separate room equipped with beds, blankets and pillows.

According to the municipal Department of Education and Training, full-day programs are common in preschools and at most elementary schools offering two sessions a day.

However, schools have very different conditions for organizing these programs.

Some have had to turn rest areas into classrooms because of enrollment pressure, while others have no dedicated sleeping rooms, forcing students to nap in their classrooms.

A teacher at Nguyen Thai Son Elementary School in Xuan Hoa Ward said the school usually pushes rows of desks together and lays out mats or thin mattresses to create sleeping spaces for students.

Concerns raised over cramped boarding dormitory spaces

Meanwhile, social media has recently been buzzing over a video posted by a parent showing the boarding dormitory where her child stays.

Some viewers described the facility as cramped and questioned its safety.

The parent whose child is entering Grade 12 in the 2026-27 academic year said the student had moved into the dormitory on August 16.

“The school dormitory is quite crowded, with around 60 to 70 beds per room,” the parent shared.

The video showed a girls’ dormitory at Nguyen Khuyen Secondary and High School in Hiep Binh Ward, where metal bunk beds were placed closely together with only a narrow passage between them.

Within a day of being posted, the video had received millions of likes, shares and comments.

“A room with 10 students and five beds already seems cramped. With 70 students and such a narrow passageway, how would they get out in the event of a fire?” one parent commented.

Principal Le Thanh Xuan from the school on Wednesday confirmed to Tuoi Tre that the images of the boarding dormitory were indeed from the school.

Responding to concerns about overcrowding and fire safety, Xuan acknowledged that living and studying at a boarding school could not be compared with the conditions students enjoyed at home.

The school’s boarding facilities accommodate 1,091 students in separate male and female areas across 19 rooms.

The girls’ dormitory houses 450 students in nine rooms.

Four smaller rooms each have 13 three-tier beds, with a maximum capacity of 36 students.

Five larger rooms each contain 24 three-tier beds and can accommodate about 70 students.

The boys’ dormitory houses 641 students and is organized similarly, with 10 larger rooms.

“The school is regularly inspected for fire prevention and fighting by police,” he said.

“Fire safety officers also provide training for teachers and dormitory supervisors and organize extracurricular sessions to teach students evacuation skills.”

Each dormitory room is equipped with portable fire extinguishers, while fire-safety instructions are posted on the walls.

The boarding facilities are also supervised by around 40 teachers, with staff on duty whenever students are present.