General school and university students complain that they have nowhere to play in break time, because school yards have become business premises.
School yards of parking lots?
Many people would think that these are the parking areas instead of universities, as they can see a lot of cars on large yards. At the University of Technology, Economics University and Medical University in Hanoi, all the empty space can turn into the places for parking cars.
Hoa, an office worker, said that she passes the Me Tri dormitory of the Hanoi National University on Luong The Vinh every day to go to the office. “Traffic jams always occurs on the stretch of road, because cars go out from the dormitory in great quantity at the same time.
About 30 cars, including taxis, were parking in the front area of the dormitory, including the cars which have been lying there for a long time. In order to park cars here, one should contact the school’s security guards and pay car keeping fees to them.
“You have to pay 40,000 dong per day for 4-7 seat cars,” a security guard said.
At the Hanoi Economics University, car owners are allowed to park on the entrance to lecture halls as well. A security guard of the school said that the car keeping fee is 50,000 dong per night, while the fees would be higher for luxurious cars.
“You have to drive cars away before 6-7 am every day, and put cars into the parking lot prior to 11 pm,” he added.
At the University of Technology, keeping car is an official service offered by the school. Car owners have to pay the monthly fee of 1 million dong, while the fee is collected quarterly. Customers have to follow necessary procedures at the school’s office on Ta Quang Buu Street and sign the contracts on car parking.
“After you sign a contract, you can leave your car immediately in D9 area. There is still enough room for 20 more cars,” an officer of the school said.
Not only universities, which have large campuses, have parking areas; general schools have also been trying to earn money from the car keeping service.
Trung Hoa Secondary School and Dich Vong B Primary School have also turned their school yards into the car parking areas. At Chu Van An High School in Tay Ho district, a large area behind the 2-storey building has been turned into the business premises for car and motorbike cleaning services. The school’s students are prohibited to come to the area because they may damage the luxurious cars.
“School yards must serve as the places for students to play, while they must not turn into the car keeping places,” Thuy, whose son goes to the Dich Vong B Primary School, complained.
No room to play
The existence of the car parking areas in schools’ campuses has narrowed the space for students. With the fees between 800,000 dong and 1.2 million dong a month from every car, school managers would rather narrow the school yards to earn money. Especially, even the schools with limited land funds have also turned into the “garages.”
Nguyen Thu Ha, a student of the Hanoi National University said that students just can stay in the classrooms during the break time, because there is no empty space in the school. All the idle places have turned into business premises which can bring money.
Meanwhile, Phuc, a medical school student, said that he and his friends still can play badminton. However, they have been told not to play volleyball because the activities may damage the cars parking here.
