Unsafe in spontaneous daycare
After finishing high school, she went to Thang Long Industrial Park, Hanoi to work as a worker. After a few years, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang (from Phu Tho) got married. Currently, Ms. Hang has a 2-year-old daughter. Ms. Hang and her husband are both workers, with an income of 15-17 million VND/month. There are many private kindergartens near the industrial park, but due to the high tuition fees, Ms. Hang has to send her child to a private nursery.
“The tuition fee is 1.8 million VND, including lunch. The class is spontaneous, so there is no systematic investment. The teachers do not have many teaching skills, they mainly just look after the children. However, I have no other choice, my child is too young while a class at a public school is very crowded,” said Ms. Hang.
Sending her child to a spontaneous class, Ms. Hang worries most about her child's safety as well as the lack of play space and limited school supplies. The female worker plans to apply for a public kindergarten when her child turns 4, and if that doesn't work, she will send her child back to her hometown.
Deputy Head of the Women's Union of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Tran Thu Phuong said that preschool facilities continue to receive annual investment from authorities at all levels and localities. The socialization of preschool education is of particular interest to provinces and cities with many industrial parks, export processing zones, and economic zones, creating favorable conditions for organizations, individuals, and businesses to participate in investing in the development of preschool education.
However, in reality, the current number of preschools, kindergartens, and childcare facilities cannot meet the needs of workers with children of childcare age, as the number of children is increasing rapidly.
Ms. Tran Thu Phuong said that children who follow their parents to industrial zones tend to be sent to private kindergartens - where conditions and space are limited, babysitters are not properly trained, and do not have teaching skills; there is little investment in childcare equipment; the owners are unemployed, unskilled, and even use rented rooms as childcare facilities; low tuition fees lead to low quality meals and inadequate service conditions; the children only know how to eat and sleep, and are not taught the necessary skills for their age. There have been many unfortunate cases in the past.
Kindergartens and nurseries built by businesses are still modest.
At the workshop "Evaluating the results of implementing the policy of supporting kindergartens for children of workers according to the provisions of Decree 105/2020/ND-CP and Decree 145/2020/ND-CP. Policy proposals" organized by the Women's Committee, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, a representative of the Trang Bom District Labor Federation, Dong Nai Province said that, in response to the practical needs of workers in industrial parks regarding kindergartens and preschools for workers' children.
The Provincial Party Committee, the People's Committee of Dong Nai Province, and the People's Committee of Trang Bom District have had many solutions to support enterprises in allocating land and other conditions to build kindergartens for workers' children in industrial parks. However, the number of kindergartens and nurseries built by enterprises is still very modest, not meeting actual needs, leading to workers having to send their children to private nurseries or private childcare groups and preschools.
To ensure the rights of children and the rights of teachers and staff at nursery groups in the district, in 2024, the District People's Council established an interdisciplinary monitoring team, including the District Labor Federation, to monitor 4 preschools and the district Department of Education and Training.
The Trang Bom District Trade Union has recommended that the District Department of Education and Training proactively advise the District People's Committee to deploy regulations on management of activities of non-public and private preschools to the People's Committees of communes, towns and independent preschools in the district...
