That is the comment of Deputy Head of Women's Committee, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Tran Thu Phuong 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".
Ms. Tran Thu Phuong said that due to the increasing labor demand of enterprises, the immigrant labor force in industrial parks, export processing zones, and economic zones has increased pressure on provinces and cities regarding social security work, especially ensuring schools to meet the learning and childcare needs of workers' children, including preschool education.
Although preschool facilities continue to receive investment attention from authorities at all levels and localities every year, 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 in the province cannot meet the needs of workers with children of childcare age due to the rapidly increasing number of children.
The Deputy Head of the Women's Union said that sending children to public kindergartens in industrial parks is relatively difficult because industrial park workers are mainly migrant workers who do not have permanent residence in their destination while the capacity of kindergartens in this area to accept children is limited.
Ms. Tran Thu Phuong said that after nearly 4 years of implementing Decrees 145 and 105, including nearly 2 years in the context of COVID-19, some limitations have been revealed.
Decree 105/2020/ND-CP dated September 8, 2020, Article 8 stipulates the subsidy policy for preschool children who are children of workers and laborers working in industrial parks; Decree 145/2020/ND-CP dated December 14, 2020, Article 81, Clause 3 stipulates:
Preschool children who are children of workers working in places with many workers are entitled to the same policies as preschool children who are children of workers and workers in industrial parks as prescribed in Article 8 of Decree No. 105/2020/ND-CP of the Government regulating policies on preschool education development.
In fact, most localities comply with the provisions of Article 8, Decree 105/2020/ND-CP, which is to support children of workers working in industrial parks. They have not yet applied support policies for children of workers working in places with many workers (industrial clusters, export processing zones, economic zones, high-tech zones, etc.), leading to unfairness for subjects with the same conditions.
Regarding the implementation of Decree 145, there are still shortcomings: The construction of kindergartens for workers' children is also in many cases, such as many industrial parks and export processing zones do not have land funds and do not have funds for construction. Some provinces have built kindergartens and classes for children, but their operations are not effective due to the distance between the place of residence, the place of work and the place of childcare, the time of childcare and the contributions of the schools are not suitable for the conditions of the workers...
Ms. Do Hong Van - Member of the Presidium, Head of the Women's Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor said that in order to effectively perform the role of trade unions in caring for and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of workers and civil servants, it is necessary to strengthen close coordination between trade unions with the Government and agencies and organizations in the political system.
In recent years, at annual meetings with the Prime Minister, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor has made recommendations on kindergarten policies for workers' children, which have received attention, strong direction, and concrete policies that are increasingly practical for workers.
