JOINT CIRCULAR

PROVIDING GUIDANCE ON THE STANDARD OF CLASSROOM DESKS AND CHAIRS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS, SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND HIGH SCHOOLS

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 75/2006/ND-CP dated August 02, 2006, elaborating and providing guidance on the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Education;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP dated August 01, 2007 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Technical regulations and standards;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 32/2008/ND-CP dated March 19th 2008, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 28/2008/ND-CP dated March 14, 2008 on stipulating functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 188/2007/ND-CP dated December 27th 2007, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Health;

The Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health hereby jointly provide guidance on the standard of classroom desks and chairs in primary schools, secondary schools and high schools as follows:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of application and applicable entities

1. This Joint Circular shall provide guidance on the standard of classroom desks and chairs in primary, secondary and high schools that belong to the national education system, including size, manufacturing material, configuration, shape and color, and classroom desk arrangement.

2. This Joint Circular shall apply to formal education institution, relevant agencies, organizations or individuals, or students whose anthropometric indicators fall within the normal range.

Article 2. Interpretation of terms

Terms used herein shall be construed as follows:

1. Chair height means the vertical distance between the uppermost edge of the front side of a seat and the floor.

2. Chair width means the distance between the right and left side of a seat.

3. Chair depth means the distance between the surface of the back rest and the front side of a seat.

4. Desk height means the vertical distance between the uppermost edge of the back side of a desktop and the floor.

5. Desk depth means the perpendicular distance between the centre of the uppermost edge of the front side and the back side of a desktop.

6. Desk width means the distance between the right and left sides.

7. Height subtraction means the vertical distance between the uppermost surface and the seat surface.

8. Students whose anthropometric indicators fall within the normal range means the students whose body measurements fall within the range of anthropometric indicators as stipulated by the Ministry of Health.

9. Normal classroom means the classrooms designed for learning academic subjects that do not have any special requirements, exclusive of specialist classrooms, laboratories and multi-function rooms.

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Article 3. Desk and chair size

1. Regulations on numeric size and code of desks and chairs by student’s height group:

2. Regulations on basic size of desks and chairs (tolerance in a dimension of desks and chairs is ± 0.5cm):

Article 4. Shape and color of desks and chairs

1. A classroom desk must be designed with the maximum of 02 seats.

2. Desks and chairs must be detached.

3. Each classroom desk must be properly designed with tailored space for students to keep their study tools.

4. The chair must have the back rest or no back rest provided that it can suit students at different ages.

5. All edges or corners of classroom desks and chairs must be smoothed or rounded to make them look more beautiful and safer.

6. Desks and chairs must be painted with colors which help them look more beautiful and meet the demand of students at different ages for a study environment.

Article 5. Manufacturing materials

The surface and leg of classroom desks and chairs must be made from stiff, pressure, water resistant, unbendable and non-toxic materials.

Article 6. Configuration

1. Desks and chairs must have firm configuration and can be regularly moved without any damage.

2. Interconnecting joints must be firm, smooth, beautiful and ensure the safety for users.

Article 7. Desk and chair label

Desks and chairs must be labeled in accordance with the Government’s Decree No. 89/2006/ND-CP dated September 30, 2006 on commodity labels; the label must be clear and durable for use, and consist of the most basic information such as product name, manufacturer's name (as for imported desks and chairs, name and address of the importer and distributor must be given).

Article 8. Classroom desk arrangement

1. Desks must be arranged to suit most of students. In the same classroom, there may be different sizes of desks.

2. The distance between the back edge of the desk in the first row and the study board must enable the student seating in the middle and end of the first desk row to have the same view angle to the centre of the study board which is not less than 300 and the maximum head-turning angle of less than 600.

3. Arrangement of desks in a normal classroom:

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 9. Responsibility for implementation

1. The Ministry of Education and Training shall preside over and collaborate with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Health and the People’s Committee of centrally-affiliated cities or provinces as well as relevant agencies in directing, expediting and providing guidance on implementation, examination and inspection of implementation of this Circular.

2. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall be responsible for directing their affiliates to get involved in examining and inspecting the implementation of this Circular.

3. The Ministry of Health shall be responsible for directing their affiliates to get involved in examining and inspecting the implementation of this Circular.

4. The People’s Committee of centrally-affiliated cities or provinces shall assign their departments of education and training, departments of science and technology and departments of health as well as other relevant agencies to check and statistically report the number of inappropriate classroom desks or those that need replacing or repairing at their localities in order to draw up the plan to implement this Circular.

Article 10. Applicability

1. As for classroom desks in primary schools, secondary schools or high schools in use, there must be a plan to replace, repair or rearrange them to meet the standard stipulated herein.

2. As for classroom desks which are newly provided after the effective date of this Circular, this Circular shall prevail.

Article 11. Effect

1. This Circular shall come into force from August 1, 2011.

2. In the course of implementation, if there is any difficulty that may arise, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health must be notified for any consideration or solution./.