Hanoi (VNA) - Physicaleducation is considered as important as academic education, but the role ofphysical education is limited in many schools, showing the need for moreinvestment in infrastructure and manpower in the field.

Incomplete statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) showedthat 95 percent of schools nationwide had physical training in theircurriculum, and 75 percent of the schools organised sports as extracurricularactivities. The activities attracted about 70 percent of the 15 millionstudents across the country.

But many schools lack infrastructure for physical training and sportsextracurricular activities.

A joint circular from the MoET and the Ministry of Health, issued in 2011,regulated that areas for playing and physical training must occupy 40-50 percentof a school’s total area.

But in fact, only about seven percent of schools in the country have a sportshall, 15 percent have sports grounds, and no more than one percent haveswimming pools.

In Hanoi, while most state schools have playgrounds for students, many privateschools do not have enough room for the activities as they have to rent spacefor classrooms. About one third of private schools have playgrounds.

On the other side of the coin, research from Ha Noi Moi (New Hanoi)newspaper showed that in some districts in Hanoi, local authorities pay muchattention to physical education.

Thanh Tri District spent large amount of funds to build swimming pools forstudents in 15 out of 16 communes, while Thanh Xuan District set up mobileswimming pools for students and the Sai Dong Residential Zone’s Primary Schoolin Long Bien District teaches its students swimming at the district’s sportscentre every Monday.

More and more children have taken up Taekwondo recently, and it is taught insome schools in Tay Ho and Nam Tu Liem districts. Some schools in Cau Giay, HaiBa Trung and Ba Dinh districts hold basketball training for students.

In a conference with the MoET at the end of February, Deputy Prime Minister Vu DucDam said that physical education must be equal with academics, and teaching andstudying methods must be changed to keep it interesting.

Assessing the quality of physical training and sports training must be based onstudents’ capacity and enjoyment, and investment must be suitable to reality,said the Deputy PM.

Academic education and physical education are the two most important duties ofthe education and training sector, which was shown in Resolution 29-NQ/TW andDecision 1076/QĐ-TTg issued in 2016.

Experts from the MoET said that under the project developing physical trainingand sports in schools in 2016-20 with a vision to 2025, students could selectone sport to play from grade 1. Two periods a week should be spent on physicaleducation.

To have better training quality, students aredivided into groups based on their physical condition, with the weak dividedfrom the strong.

Canh Bach Yen, principal of the Vietnam-Algeria Junior Secondary School inThanh Xuan District said that besides two periods of physical training perweek, the school ran sports clubs for students.

The school planned to build a football ground and a basketball court for thestudents with funds contributed by the school’s teachers, she said.

To resolve the shortage of manpower for physical training at schools, the MoETwill check physical training teachers at schools, and then give guidance toschools and sports training schools.

The project on developing manpower for the education sector from now until 2020said that each year, the sector needed 460 teachers for physical training, andmost of them should work in primary schools. — VNA