Strange story at Tuoi Tho Kindergarten

(Baonghean) - Recently, Ms. Nguyen Thi An (Tan Phuc apartment building, Vinh Tan, Vinh City) sent a petition to many press agencies to reflect on the fact that her child - a 5-year-old child who was assessed as agile and obedient - was suddenly expelled from school without any official notice. This rare and unprecedented incident is attracting public attention and raising the question of whether children's rights to protection, education and development are being neglected?

Tuoi Tho Kindergarten.

Adults make mistakes, children take the blame

In a petition sent to Nghe An Newspaper, Ms. Nguyen Thi An (Tan Phuc apartment building, Vinh Tan, Vinh City) reported: Her son HM N was forced to leave school by Tuoi Tho Kindergarten (Vinh Tan New Urban Area, Vinh City) without reason. Specifically: On May 29, 2014, administrative staff of Tuoi Tho Kindergarten called Ms. An to pick up N's records because the school decided not to let her son study there anymore. Ms. An asked for the reason but the administrative staff did not give a specific answer. Ms. An called the school's Board of Directors many times to request a final settlement of the matter. On June 14, 2014, Ms. An went to work directly with Mr. Dang Minh Chuong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tuoi Tho Kindergarten to clarify the reason for forcing N to leave school but did not receive cooperation and the school still did not have any specific document forcing her son to leave school.

Ms. An presented: N started studying at Tuoi Tho Kindergarten on August 1, 2013. During her time at school, N was assessed by her teachers as obedient, intelligent and agile. On May 28, 2014, the school selected her to join the performing arts team to perform at the end of the school year ceremony. Following the teacher's instructions, Ms. An bought performance clothes for her child and gave them to the teacher before going to work. That evening, Ms. An went to school and saw that N had no shoes to wear and her bag was missing. When Ms. An asked the teacher, she said "I don't know" because she had already given the bag to her child. After searching for a long time without finding it, Ms. An and the teacher had a verbal argument. “In the morning, I gave the teacher my bag, but in the evening she said she didn’t know, which is irresponsible. He’s just a child, how could he know? While the other kids were fully dressed during the fashion show, my son had no performance clothes and had to go barefoot. I felt sorry for him and embarrassed when other parents thought I didn’t know how to take care of my child,” said Ms. An.

On the morning of May 29, 2014, Ms. An was very surprised when the school decided to refuse to let her child continue studying at the school over the phone. “Although it is a private school, this is a professional organization that operates under conditions, within the framework of the law. When my child came here to study and applied for admission, the school must have a reason and a document when forcing my child to leave school. The child is not guilty, and adults should resolve the matter among themselves,” Ms. An was indignant. Discussing this issue, Mr. Dang Minh Chuong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tuoi Tho Kindergarten, said that the reason for not allowing N to continue studying was due to the lack of cooperation between the parents and the school. “During N’s time at school, the parents had a disrespectful attitude towards the teachers. If the school is not decisive, it will affect the other children in the school and the teacher’s psychology. The loss of the child’s bag was a mistake, not a crime for the parents to insult the entire school like that.”

Ms. An admitted that the incident of the lost bag was just the last straw, but if she had known how to handle it, the matter would not have gone as far as it has now. Previously, she had expressed her opinion when she learned about the school's attitude towards the children's meals, some meals the children ate burnt rice, thin porridge and did not meet requirements, the school's revenue and expenditure were unclear... Could it be that the positive and constructive feedback from parents had upset the school? Before that incident, the school had never once invited parents to come to exchange, discuss and listen to the opinions of all parties to thoroughly resolve the problem. From here, it led to doubts and barriers that made the relationship between teachers and parents become tense. On May 29, the school held a council meeting and in that meeting, 100% of the school's teachers agreed with the opinion of refusing to take care of child N in the next school year. This incident made the parents extremely upset.

A misrule

In response to the question of why he refused to take care of the child but did not issue a written notice to the parents, Mr. Chuong said that this time is during the summer vacation, and at the beginning of the new school year, he will report this to the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City. Up to now, the school still insists that not allowing N to continue studying is in accordance with regulations. In the Regulations on conditions for receiving and returning children at Tuoi Tho Kindergarten signed by Chairman of the Board of Directors Dang Minh Chuong on July 12, 2013 (before the school started operating), Section 1 on refusing to take care of the child if: "Parents have an attitude of disrespect for teachers, have requests for the care, raising and educating the child, causing difficulties for the school". Explaining this decision, Mr. Dang Minh Chuong said: "This is the regulation of Tuoi Tho Kindergarten. It is in the children's records". But according to Ms. An, from the time she applied for her child to enroll until now, she has never known about this school regulation.

However, even though it is a school regulation, it is completely contrary to the operating regulations of the kindergarten. Ms. Le Thi Phuong, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City, said: In the kindergarten regulations, there are no regulations on the issue of forcing students to drop out of school. And up to now, no school has allowed students to drop out of school, only students and parents unilaterally drop out. The school has its own regulations but they must comply with the regulations of the State and must be made public to the whole school, with the approval of the parents. "This is a very regrettable incident and the cause is the improper behavior of the school and parents. The school should have invited the parents to work to determine the cause. If the parents are wrong, they should be asked to correct it," Ms. Phuong said.

Regardless of whether it is the fault of the school or the parents, the fact that a 5-year-old child is forced to leave school is extremely regrettable and the ultimate loss belongs to the child. Ms. An said: The information that my child was expelled from school was informed by the school to the teacher and was spread everywhere. This affects the normal development of the child, creating unnecessary discrimination in society.

After not being accepted for care at Tuoi Tho Kindergarten, the family asked for N. to study at another kindergarten and his studies were interrupted for nearly 2 months. When asked whether the school had considered the consequences for the child's psychology when deciding not to let the 5-year-old continue studying, Mr. Chuong said: There will definitely be an impact. But the school has gone through the parents, so the mother must be responsible for somehow explaining to the child. And the fact that the school did not make a document or did not communicate clearly is the parents' responsibility.

Preschool education is the first level in the national education system, laying the foundation for the physical, intellectual, emotional and aesthetic development of children. For 5-year-old children, this is a decisive stage of development to create physical strength, personality and intellectual development capacity in the future. That requires 5-year-old children to be fully prepared mentally to adapt to a new stage. Therefore, in the project to universalize education for 5-year-old children, the goal set by Nghe An province to reach the end of 2014 is to mobilize and give top priority to 5-year-old children to go to school in order to best prepare them for grade 1. However, the incident at Tuoi Tho Kindergarten is extremely regrettable, seriously affecting the psychology, living habits and personality formation process of children. In this regard, both the school and parents need to look back and draw their own lessons and experiences. And above all, we must put the interests of children first to work together to create the best environment for children to learn and develop comprehensively.

Pham Bang