Not sure but no choice
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha has a first child who is nearly 3 years old. Both her husband and she are from Quang Binh province and work as factory workers in Hanoi. Like other factory workers, the couple must save their income to cover their living expenses. Therefore, the couple rents a small room, just enough for a bed to sleep in and a kitchen to cook in. Even though they have a child, the couple still cannot afford to rent a larger room. If they ask their grandparents to look after the baby while they go to work, there will be no place to sleep. Therefore, Ms. Ha has to leave her child at a private facility near the rental area.
Ms. Ha said that the advantage is that on days when both husband and wife work overtime, the child still has someone to look after, even if they have to pay a little extra. What she and her husband and both sets of grandparents worry about is the child's safety when going to private child care centers. Every time there is an incident or news of a child being abused at a private facility, the whole family is very worried.
“Sometimes during work, I suddenly wonder how my child will be fed at lunch, whether he will be scolded for being lazy to eat or chewing and swallowing slowly, and not being able to concentrate on his work,” Ms. Ha confided. When asked why she doesn’t send her child to her grandparents to take care of, Ms. Ha said: The child is still too young, I can’t bear to be away from him. Besides, both parents are poor, conditions in the countryside are not as good as in the city, especially when the child is sick...
Workers' families with young children like Ha's are not few. Families with two children often send the older child to be taken care of by grandparents, while the younger child is given priority to stay with the parents in Hanoi. Workers' families with older children in high school worry about not being able to supervise their children, especially at the age of personality formation; worry about their children being bullied or being lured by friends when they go to school...
In industrial zones, where migrant workers are concentrated, many young workers have small children and work in shifts, so the need for childcare for children from 6 to 18 months and the need for childcare outside of working hours due to parents working overtime is very high. However, public kindergartens have not met the demand, so workers mainly have to send their children to family childcare groups, which do not ensure the quality of childcare and education and are not eligible for the policies of Decree 105/2020/ND-CP.
The proportion of children of workers working in enterprises, economic zones, high-tech zones, industrial clusters... is very large and has difficult circumstances, and needs support like children of workers working in industrial zones but are not eligible for support under Decree 105/2020/ND-CP.
From May to July 2023, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor conducted a survey in Bac Ninh, Hanoi, Vinh Phuc, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien - Hue, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, An Giang, and the Southern Textile and Garment Trade Union with 1,000 votes from female migrant workers with young children and local female workers, grassroots trade union officials, and employers at 30 enterprises.
The survey results published in December 2023 showed that 95.5% of female migrant workers surveyed had children (1 child accounted for 33.4%, 2 children accounted for 51.2%, 3 children or more accounted for 15.3%). Of these, 18.1% sent their children to private kindergartens; 4.1% sent them to family childcare groups in residential areas; 2.7% sent them to kindergartens built by enterprises for workers' children; 31.6% sent their children to their hometowns for relatives to take care of... Regarding learning outcomes, 23% of children achieved average or poor learning outcomes...
Will ease the difficulties
Implementing the Party's direction, on September 8, 2020, the Government issued Decree 105/2020/ND-CP regulating preschool development policies, focusing on developing preschool education for children of workers in industrial parks.
The most specific policies are for independent, private preschools in areas with industrial parks and places with many workers (Article 5), policies to support children of workers in industrial parks (Article 8) and policies for preschool teachers working at independent, private preschools in areas with industrial parks (Article 10).
In addition, the 2019 Labor Code and Decree 145/2020/ND-CP dated December 14, 2023 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Labor Code on working conditions and labor relations also stipulate the responsibility of employers in building kindergartens or supporting part of the childcare costs for employees with children of kindergarten age, the responsibility of the Provincial People's Committee in arranging land funds to build kindergartens or invest in infrastructure, creating conditions for organizations and individuals to invest in building kindergartens, regulations for private independent preschools, preschool teachers teaching at private independent educational institutions, children of workers working in places with many workers are entitled to policies as for the subjects specified in Articles 5, 10, and 8 of Decree No. 105/2020/ND-CP.
All these regulations have created a fairly complete and humane policy framework that contributes to supporting the development of preschool education and taking care of workers' children in places with industrial parks and export processing zones.
Regarding the policy of enterprises supporting nurseries and kindergartens for workers, according to information from the grassroots trade unions in industrial parks, there are currently a number of enterprises building and maintaining nurseries at the enterprise to support workers to send their children and work with peace of mind, such as in Binh Duong, Dong Nai...
The majority of the remaining enterprises support workers with children of daycare age, mainly in the form of money. The level of support from enterprises ranges from 10,000 VND/child/month to 300,000 VND/child/month. In particular, some enterprises have supported 1,000,000 VND/child/month for department heads from team leader and above.
Policies, combined with coordinated efforts and proactive care for union members and employees by the Trade Union organization, have made an important contribution to helping workers with children overcome difficulties. However, in Decree 105/2020/ND-CP, as stipulated in Clause 1, Article 5 and Clause 1, Article 10, preschools and teachers must directly care for and educate children in groups/kindergartens with 30% or more of the children being children of workers and laborers working in industrial parks. However, in reality, very few facilities have a rate of 30% of students being children of workers and laborers working in industrial parks, but only 10% to less than 30%, not meeting the conditions for enjoying the policy, leading to disadvantages for both teachers and preschools.
In some localities, workers work in industrial parks but live in areas adjacent to industrial parks, and send their children to private independent preschools in areas without industrial parks. Therefore, although preschools and teachers in these areas have to look after and care for most of the children of workers in industrial parks, they do not benefit from the policies of Decree 105...
