Vietnamese American Primary School: Building Premium Educational Environment

Situated on Lac Long Quan Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese American Primary School (VAPS) maintains its dynamic and studious atmosphere in spite of the ongoing annual summer holidays. Teacher Tran Duc Cong, a member of the VAPS Management Board said, “In our initial days, in spite of meticulous preparations, we encountered numerous difficulties that we have not yet fully overcome. However, we are proud of our efforts and confident of our goal of ‘building a leading school in the western gate of Ho Chi Minh City’.”

 

In recent years, with the government’s advocacy of educational socialisation and open investment policies, more and more foreign and domestic individuals, organisations and companies are investing in the Vietnamese educational sector. The Vietnamese American Primary School was set up with the purpose of creating a quality and virtuous educational environment. VAPS was founded in 2006 in a cooperation between Vietnam-America Training School and Vien Dong Group. VAPS teaches students from first to six grade, in line with the programme of the Ministry of Education and Training, and ESL international programme of the British Commonwealth. All lectures are conducted by native [SLG1] teachers.

 

The school has built a modern and spacious facility, installed air-conditioners for classrooms and decorated interiors and exteriors for students of different ages. The music hall is professionally designed, and the multimedia library has nearly 1,000 book titles. The nearly 1,000-square meter playground, with sunshade, provides for a variety of activities, with swing chairs, chutes, swings and basketball courts. The spacious restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner is supplied by Dussman Company. 

 

Teacher Cong confided, “All investors must weigh up profit in business, but education is not a short-term profit operation. For our part, we are always aware that investment in education needs a long-term orientation; therefore, a quality education is always on the top priority. At present, we only employ native teachers to help students to speak English perfectly.”

 

In spite of being a newcomer, Vietnamese American Primary School has made quick progress and built up solid faith among student’s parents. In the 2006 - 2007 academic year, all students are advancing to the next forms and 75 per cent of them are at a good level. In 2006, five VAPS students won handwriting contests in District 1 and one was the first-prize winner.

 

The above achievements are the results of concern and sound investment for education, from the infrastructure to the teacher workforce. In the initial days, the school encountered difficulty in recruiting qualified teachers. However, to date, major challenges have been gradually overcome by contributions from senior employees who used to work for various foreign organisations, and many others who want to help build the school. This kind of solidarity boosts the school’s development. 

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