At the seminar "Supporting workers in industrial parks and export processing zones in child care and education - proposals and recommendations" organized by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation on October 8 in Ho Chi Minh City, many opinions expressed concern when workers had to send their children back to their hometowns for help.
Only watched, not taught
Ms. Phung Diem Tuyen - Chairman of the Trade Union of Daehan Motors Company (Automotive Mechanical Industrial Park, Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City) - sadly recounted her own story. Ms. Tuyen said that when her child was 6 months old, because she could not ask her grandparents to take care of her child and could not leave her child anywhere, she had to leave her child with a neighbor to look after.
Although she loved her child, she lacked the knowledge and proper education, so she often let her child watch cell phones. As a result, due to not being exposed to age-appropriate education, her child is now 4 years old but can only say a few simple sentences.
“When I went to the doctor, he said that because my child lacked contact with children of the same age and watched a lot of cell phones, it affected his language development,” Ms. Tuyen said sadly.
According to Ms. Tuyen, many workers find it difficult to send their preschool-age children to public preschools, so they have to send them back to their hometowns for grandparents to take care of or send them outside, which greatly affects the children's development.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Chairman of the Trade Union of Dai Dung Mechanical - Trading Joint Stock Company - also said that there was a time when many workers had to send their children to their grandparents in the countryside to take care of. Many grandparents spoiled their grandchildren and did not have proper educational measures, leading to their children being spoiled and even getting involved in social evils.
Ms. Tran Thu Phuong - Deputy Head of Women's Union of Vietnam General Confederation of Labor - commented that in reality, there are many cases where workers' children are only looked after but not taught.
Need special preschool education policy for workers' children
Ms. Le Thi Le Huyen - Vice President of the Trade Union of Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks in Ho Chi Minh City - after analyzing the shortcomings in taking care of preschool-age workers' children, proposed the need to plan the construction of nurseries and kindergartens in export processing zones and industrial parks.
Competent authorities need to study and have specific education policies for the export processing zones and industrial parks, such as developing regulations on allocating time frames for childcare in accordance with the childcare needs of workers in the export processing zones and industrial parks. They can pilot the organization of preschool facilities to serve the children of workers working in the export processing zones and industrial parks in accordance with actual conditions.
Ms. Pham Thi Hong Ha - Chairwoman of the Saigon Food Company's Trade Union (Vinh Loc Industrial Park) - proposed that it is necessary to quickly build many social housing areas for workers, including full schools and entertainment areas to meet the learning, entertainment and development needs of children.
Ms. Tran Thu Phuong - Deputy Head of Women's Union of Vietnam General Confederation of Labor - said that the Project "Supporting workers in industrial parks and export processing zones in child care and raising for the period 2023 - 2028" assessed the current status of support for workers in child care and raising by trade unions.
“The Vietnam Trade Union has had many activities to take care of children of union members and workers. The opinions at the discussion were very realistic and practical, and at the same time suggested suitable programs and solutions for the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor to use as a basis to build programs and propose and recommend to the Party and State to have better support policies to take care of children of workers,” said Ms. Phuong.
