Urgent need for nurseries and kindergartens in industrial parks

(Baonghean) - Currently, the whole province has 89,000 female workers working in industrial parks, of which female workers with small children account for 20 - 30%. It is forecasted that this number is on the rise. However, currently, workers in industrial parks are not only facing difficulties in housing, but also in the lack of kindergartens and places for their children to study...

The harsh reality...

Ms. Dau Thi Oanh from An Hoa (Quynh Luu) had to take unpaid leave to stay home to take care of her children.

After the afternoon overtime, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a worker at Minh Anh Kim Lien Company in Bac Vinh Industrial Park, quickly bought a package of food and hurried home with her nearly 10-month-old child who was being cared for by her grandmother. Ms. Hoa shared that both of her children are being cared for by their grandparents. The older child, 3 years old, was sent back to her hometown in Do Luong to go to preschool, because there is no place to take care of the children around here, private school tuition is high, and workers' salaries cannot afford it. Meanwhile, for the past few months, Ms. Dau Thi Oanh (from An Hoa commune, Quynh Luu) has had to accept unpaid leave to stay home to take care of her children. Ms. Oanh and her husband are both workers at Minh Anh Garment Company, with a salary of about 3 million VND/person/month, while just the rent, electricity and water costs are approximately 1 million VND/month, not to mention other living expenses. The paternal and maternal grandparents are old and weak, unable to go to Vinh to take care of their grandchildren, unable to hire a maid and also unable to send their children to a private nursery because the monthly tuition is more than 1 million VND, so the couple had to calculate for Ms. Oanh to take unpaid leave, stay home to take care of the children and wait for the children to grow up a little bit before considering sending them back to their hometown to go to school... Mr. Nguyen Van An, a worker at My Nghe Joint Stock Company, also shared that he had submitted an application for his child to go to preschool, but the school only accepts children with household registration in the local commune, so he had to send his child to an outside nursery, but the tuition is too high, while the income is unstable, so the couple is considering one of them taking leave and taking the child back to their hometown to ensure the child's education.

Currently, the demand for sending children to kindergarten for workers in industrial parks is very large, while local schools can only meet a very small part. In Hung Dong commune (Vinh city), where Bac Vinh Industrial Park is located, each year, Hung Dong Kindergarten can only meet the needs of 500 students of both ages, of which only about 15 - 20 are children of workers, because the school must accept enough children with household registration in the commune first. In some kindergartens in communes bordering Bac Vinh and Nam Cam Industrial Parks such as Nghi Kim, Quan Bau, Nghi Xa, the situation is similar.

Ms. Le Thi Phuong, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City, said: “The current difficulty is that the annual demand for children in wards and communes bordering industrial parks is very large. The kindergartens in these wards and communes give priority to children with local household registration, so they are no longer qualified to accept more children of workers in other districts, or even if they try hard, they can only accept very few more children.”

According to a survey by the Provincial Labor Federation, there are currently more than 1,800 children under 36 months old who are children of factory and enterprise workers, of which 832 are children and over 1,000 others are away from their parents. All of them want to go to preschool, but the schools where the factories and enterprises are located cannot meet the demand.

Businesses are not interested

In Nghe An, the Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 1657/UBND-TH dated March 26, 2015 on "Developing a plan to implement Project 404 until 2020 and the plan for 2015". Accordingly, from now until 2020, the Provincial Labor Federation will mobilize enterprises employing many female workers to set aside welfare funds, provide financial support for female workers to send their children to school and support the construction and development of private independent childcare groups and kindergartens.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a worker at Minh Anh Kim Lien Company Limited (Bac Vinh Industrial Park) had to send her eldest child to her maternal grandparents' house and ask her grandmother to take care of her second child.

However, in reality, the authorities have only stopped at propaganda work and surveying the needs of workers. Discussing this issue, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Nhi - Vice President of the Provincial Labor Federation said: In the annual coordination program with the Provincial People's Committee, the Federation has proposed land funds for the construction of housing, kindergartens, playgrounds and entertainment areas for workers in industrial parks, but so far only a few industrial parks have planned this item. The Provincial Labor Federation also regularly coordinates with relevant sectors to organize inspections of the implementation of the Labor Law at enterprises; especially focusing on mobilizing enterprises to provide financial support for female workers with young children. However, through the survey, currently no enterprise has built kindergartens for children of workers due to lack of land funds, investment funds, and policies for teachers, etc.

Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet, Vice President of the Trade Union of the Southeast Economic Zone, added that most workers with young children want to send their children to school to work with peace of mind, but in reality, many businesses have not paid much attention to this essential need. Most new businesses have support for workers in terms of gasoline and accommodation, but very few have support for workers with young children. Only a few businesses, such as Trung Lai Gas Lighter Co., Ltd. (Nam Cam Industrial Park), support workers with children of kindergarten age and workers who have to rent a room at 100,000 VND/month/person. Haivina Kim Lien Company supports workers with young children with 200,000 VND/person/month. Most of the remaining businesses have not yet provided any support. Minh Anh Kim Lien Co., Ltd. (Bac Vinh Industrial Park) has more than 1,000 employees, 90% of whom are female. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Vinh, Deputy Director of the company, said that female workers of childbearing age account for nearly 1/3, to support this group requires a large amount of funding, so the company has not been able to do so; the company has only supported 160,000 VND/month for housing costs for workers.

The whole province has 89,000 female workers working in industrial zones, of which female workers with small children account for 20-30%. It is forecasted that this number tends to increase every year, which means that the number of workers' children is increasing, the need for nurseries for workers' children will become more and more urgent. Therefore, in order for workers to have a safe place to send their children, so that they can be cared for, protected, educated, and develop comprehensively, it is necessary to have the attention and active participation of all levels, sectors, and especially the sharing and cooperation from businesses. Only then can we contribute to reducing the burden on workers, creating motivation for them to stick together and promote their strength to produce and do business, promoting the development of the businesses themselves.

Dinh Nguyet