The problem of preschool children studying at a 'branch'... a neighborhood cultural house

(Baonghean.vn) - This is the situation that has been happening for many years in Hung Yen Nam commune (Hung Nguyen district). This commune currently does not have a kindergarten, so all children in the commune of kindergarten age are having to study at "branches" in the hamlet's cultural house.

The cultural house of hamlet 10, the "branch" of the 3-4 year old class, currently has no toilet or running water.

This new school year 2016-2017, like many years before, children of Hung Yen Nam Kindergarten continue to study at the cultural houses of each hamlet in this commune.

Hung Yen Nam and Hung Yen Bac communes were separated from Hung Yen commune in 2009. Before the separation, Hung Yen commune did not have a kindergarten. Up to now, although it has been separated for more than 7 years, Hung Yen Bac commune has its own kindergarten, while Hung Yen Nam still maintains its original status.

Because there are no schools, preschool classes have to study in the village cultural houses, sometimes even having to study in old warehouses borrowed from the village... However, in recent years, the warehouses have been severely damaged, so children have been concentrated in studying in most of the village cultural houses.

The classroom at the Cultural House of Hamlet 10 has deteriorated. The windows are old and worn.

According to our observations, the infrastructure system at the “classrooms” located in the cultural house is quite makeshift, some places have been and are gradually deteriorating. At the cultural house in hamlet 8A, the crossbeam system is rusty, the shutters are temporarily installed with a piece of wood, the walls were built a long time ago so they are old, some places are cracked.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Vuong, the village chief, said that the 8A cultural house was built in 1989. However, the village has mobilized efforts and financial contributions from residents, parents and educators to upgrade and repair the cultural house.

The walls of the cultural house and classroom are also cracked.

Up to this point, the village's cultural house has been surrounded by a fence, the yard has been raised, the playground has a roof... The electrical system is being urgently repaired to ensure light and safety for children entering the new school year.

The electrical system is being repaired at the "branch" of hamlet 8A.

At the “branch” of Hamlet 10, there are currently about 34 children aged 3-4 studying. There are no toilets, no running water for the children, and no teachers. Every day, the teachers have to go out and buy bottled water for the children to drink. The only water tap at the water tank is also broken. The classroom has 2 wall-mounted electric fans and 2 light bulbs, but 1 fan and 1 light bulb are broken.

The faucet at the only water tank at the "branch" in hamlet 10 is also broken.

There is no roof for the playground or the entrance gate. Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho, a parent whose child is studying here, said that on days of heavy rain, the playground is heavily flooded, like on the opening day of the school year, so the parents and teachers have to bail out the water together. “The most pitiful thing is that the children do not have toilets and water. We just hope that the authorities will pay attention to investing in these two “items” first,” Ms. Tho confided.

The tiled roofs are old and can leak during heavy rain.

At the branch in Hamlet 2 (commonly known as Khe May kindergarten), which is also a cultural house, fences must be used to separate the two classes. Each class has over 30 children. The teachers here said that because the classes are next to each other, separated only by a fence, teaching and learning are very inconvenient.

And when it rains heavily, water will leak from the roof and flow from the yard into the classroom. That is why, on days when it is about to rain heavily, the teachers have to carry all the children's school supplies and toys into sacks and hang them up high or leave them in storage. Because the school is in the village's cultural house, in the summer, all the tables, chairs, boards, and supplies... have to be left at people's houses. Because leaving them here at the entrance is not safe, they can easily be lost or stolen.

Toys for children are only available at a few branches, the rest do not have them.

Hung Yen Nam Kindergarten currently has 7 "branches" located in the cultural houses of hamlets 1, 2, 6A, 8A, 9, 10 and 11. The "branches" located in many other hamlets are in a similar situation to hamlet 10. Only the cultural house of hamlet 11 has only relatively good facilities to ensure teaching and learning for teachers and students, and a place to eat and sleep at noon. The remaining "branches" have to study all day, at 10am the children go home, and at 2pm their parents take them back to study again.

Many classrooms are dilapidated and poorly lit.

Ms. Dang Thi Thien, Principal of Hung Yen Nam Kindergarten shared: “We just hope to have a centralized school to improve teaching and learning for teachers and students here. If it continues like this, it will be very difficult.”

Talking to reporters about this situation, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Yen Nam commune, said that because there is no budget, it is not possible to build a kindergarten, so the children have to study in the cultural houses of the hamlet. Currently, the land for building a school has been planned, but the local authorities are still waiting for the generosity of benefactors to soon have funds to invest in building a stable place for teachers and students.

Thien Thien