Workers struggle to find a place to send their children

(Baonghean) -Currently, the whole province has more than 148,000 workers, of which 60% are female (the number of female workers with small children accounts for a large proportion). However, most industrial parks do not have childcare facilities for workers' children, and many families with children entering grade 1 cannot enroll them for many reasons... This causes difficulties for workers' families and significantly affects their already very limited lives.

Ms. Trinh Thi Thanh - a worker at Matrix Company Limited has to send her child to private school to have the opportunity to work overtime.

It was almost 7pm when Mr. Nguyen Van An, a worker at My Nghe Joint Stock Company, just got home from work after overtime. The rented room of only about 15 square meters (in Hung Dong Commune - Vinh City) is where he and his wife and two small children have been staying for nearly 5 years now. His hometown is in Dien Xuan (Dien Chau) but he came to the city to work, but the most difficult thing now is finding a place to send his children. "Since August, I went to Hung Dong Kindergarten to ask for my 5-year-old child to study, but the school ran out of places. We had to ask an acquaintance to ask for my child to study at Nghi Kim Kindergarten, more than 2km from home. The child younger than 1 year old has to be sent to a daycare center at home, the cost of childcare is 1 million VND/month, not knowing if it is safe or not, but we have to accept it so that my wife and I can go to work," said Mr. An.

Another difficulty for workers is ensuring the time to pick up their children according to the regulations of public schools. Having to work overtime regularly, Ms. Trinh Thi Thanh - Matrix Company Limited (Bac Vinh Industrial Park), chose to send her child to Hong Le Private Kindergarten. Ms. Thanh shared: “Both paternal and maternal grandparents live far away, and the house is short of people, so my husband and I had to leave our child with his parents here, which was very difficult. Since my child was over 1 year old, I have had to work overtime regularly, an average of 2 hours a day, so I could not pick up my child early, so I had to send him to private school. The tuition fee for sending him to private school is high (850 thousand VND/month), more than 1/3 of our workers' salary, but we have to spend frugally to ensure both the child's education and the parents' time to work.”

Hung Dong Commune - Vinh City, where Bac Vinh Industrial Park is located, however, every year the commune kindergarten only has about 10 - 15 children of workers registered to study. Partly because the school's enrollment quota can only meet the needs of children in the commune, on the other hand, workers do not want to send their children here because they have to pick them up on time. In the 2013 - 2014 school year, the whole school had 500 children but only 20 were children of workers", said Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Ha - Vice Principal of Hung Dong Kindergarten.

Not only is it a concern to find a place to send their children, the burden of workers with young children is also the cost of ensuring their living when their average salary is currently only about 3 million VND/month. Unable to afford to send their children to the city at a high cost, Nguyen Thi Xuan and her husband (workers at Minh Anh Kim Lien Company Limited - Bac Vinh Industrial Park), from Thanh Chuong, had to send their children back to their hometown for their grandparents to look after so that they could work with peace of mind. "With a meager salary of only about 3 million VND/month, including expenses such as renting a house for about 800,000 VND/month, private daycare for nearly 1 million VND and other living expenses, life is very difficult, so we chose to send our children back to our hometown for their grandparents to save on childcare costs and have peace of mind to work."

The Labor Law clearly states the responsibility of employers in places that employ many female workers to help organize nurseries, kindergartens or partially support the costs for female workers with children of childcare or kindergarten age. However, according to a survey by the Provincial Labor Federation, there is currently no enterprise that has the conditions to build nurseries or kindergartens for workers' children because there is no land fund and no policy for teachers. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Vinh - Deputy Director of Minh Anh Kim Lien Company Limited (Bac Vinh Industrial Park) said that the company has more than 1,000 employees, 90% of whom are female workers. 1/3 of female workers are of childbearing age, but the company has only supported 160,000 VND/month for housing costs for workers, and has not yet had the conditions to support workers with young children. In addition, a few businesses have paid attention to workers with young children and supported a small part of the cost, such as Trung Lai Gas Lighter Company Limited (Nam Cam Industrial Park) supporting workers with children of kindergarten age and workers who have to rent a room with 100,000 VND/month/person.

Ms. Ho Thi Dong - Head of the Women's Union - Provincial Labor Federation said: In order to create conditions for workers with young children to work with peace of mind, in the annual coordination program with the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial Labor Federation has proposed land funds for the construction of housing, kindergartens, playgrounds and entertainment areas for workers in industrial parks, but so far only 1/3 of industrial parks have this planning. In the coming time, the Provincial Labor Union will further strengthen coordination with relevant sectors to organize inspections of the implementation of the Labor Law at enterprises; especially focus on mobilizing enterprises to provide financial support for female workers with young children.

It is forecasted that the number of female workers tends to increase every year, which means that the number of workers with young children is also increasing. Meanwhile, industrial parks lack childcare facilities, forcing workers to send their children to family daycare centers - which are not up to "standard" and pose many potential risks. Some workers send their children back to their hometowns, having to live away from their parents from a young age, affecting the comprehensive development of children. On the other hand, the lack of support policies will cause pressure for workers with young children. Therefore, it is necessary to share from businesses to help reduce the burden on workers, create motivation to help them stick together and promote their strength to promote the development of the businesses themselves.

Article and photos: Dinh Nguyet