“A Hearty Lunch for Hanoi’s Little Learners: Capital City Invests in Primary Students’ Wellbeing with a 3,000 Billion VND Meal Support Initiative.”

The Hanoi People’s Committee has submitted a proposal for a draft resolution on the mechanism to support lunch for elementary school students in Hanoi for the 2025-2026 school year.

The development of this policy by the Hanoi People’s Committee aims to address the suggestion made by General Secretary To Lam during his constituency meeting before the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly in Hanoi’s Constituency No.1 on April 17, 2025. It also demonstrates the city’s continued commitment to education and student welfare, ensuring quality teaching and learning conditions, and providing the best holistic educational experience for Hanoi’s children.

This policy is designed to alleviate some of the economic burdens on parents, contribute to social welfare, and ensure the physical well-being of students to enhance their learning quality. It also showcases Hanoi’s tangible support for education and its future generations.

The Hanoi People’s Committee plans to allocate over VND 3,000 billion to support lunch for approximately 768,000 elementary school students, both in public and private schools, during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Specifically, students studying in educational institutions in mountainous areas and communes in the middle of the Red River will receive support of VND 30,000/student/day. Elementary school students in other areas of Hanoi will be supported at a rate of VND 20,000/student/day.

In cases where parents and the school agree on a higher meal cost than the state’s support, the difference will be charged to the students, ensuring a minimum meal cost of VND 30,000/student/day. This support will be applicable to elementary school students studying in Hanoi’s educational institutions who voluntarily participate in the boarding service (excluding institutions with foreign investment).

According to statistics from the Hanoi People’s Committee, out of 778 elementary schools in the city (728 public and 50 private), 703 schools offer boarding services, accounting for 90.4% (655 public schools at 93.17% and 48 private schools at 6.83%).

Currently, Hanoi has a total of 763,028 elementary school students (703,145 in public schools and 59,883 in private schools), of whom 502,227 students, or 65.82%, are enrolled in the boarding program (443,242 in public schools at 88.26% and 58,985 in private schools at 11.74%).

The city estimates that the expected budget for supporting lunches for elementary school students in the public school system for the 2025-2026 academic year is VND 2,824 billion, while for private schools, it is VND 239 billion.