HCM City, November 18 (VNS/VNA) - Over the past five years,sport competitions for students in Ho Chi Minh City have increasedsignificantly but the conditions of sport facilities at schools have not metdemand.

According to the city’s Department of Education and Training,by the end of the 2019-2020 school year, around 77 percent of kindergartens and100 percent of primary schools, secondary schools and high schools had aplayground.

However, only 29.6 percent of primary schools, 47.1 percentof secondary schools, and 45.5 percent of high schools had sport halls that metthe prescribed standards.

In order to implement the Prime Minister's direction onstrengthening sports facilities in schools, the Department of Education andTraining has developed sport facilities, including the expansion of traininggrounds and construction of more sport halls and swimming pools.

In addition, the city department has increased funding topurchase sport equipment for schools in the city.

Mai Ba Hung, deputy director of HCM City’s Department ofCulture and Sports, told Sai Gon Giai phong (Liberated Sai Gon) that in orderto overcome the limitations of facilities, the department has worked with thecity’s Department of Education and Training to develop physical education andsports activities at schools.

Thanks to the cooperation between the two departments,schools now can use local sport facilities such as gymnasiums, swimming poolsand training grounds and receive support from sports associations and sportclubs in the area.

In District 4, the district’s Department of Education andTraining annually coordinates with the district’s Sports Center to implementswimming classes for third-grade students in primary schools in the area.

By the end of the previous school year, the percentage ofstudents who could swim and master safety skills in the water environmentthroughout the district reached over 80 percent.

In addition, the locality has also strengthened sportsactivities by holding more district-level competitions such as football,volleyball, badminton, and martial arts for students in primary schools,secondary schools and high schools.

Tran Anh Tuan, director of District 1’s Sport Centre, saidthat every year the centre worked with schools in the district to establishsport clubs in schools.

At Nguyen Binh Khiem primary school in District 1, studentshave two swimming lessons per week and learn to swim at the local swimming poolnearby.

According to the school's leaders, they have worked with theDistrict 1 Sports Center and Nguyen Binh Khiem Swimming Club to organise anextracurricular swimming activity for students to prevent drowning accidents./.