Viet Sing Kindergarten System explains image of teacher washing children's food trays in the toilet

Late on July 27, Viet Sing Kindergarten System issued an official announcement regarding images that upset parents at one of its affiliated schools.

In its announcement, this kindergarten system said that in recent days, on social networks and press channels, unofficial and unverified internal information has been posted and passed around about food hygiene issues at Viet Sing Kindergarten.

“First of all, the leadership of Viet Sing System would like to sincerely apologize to parents and the public for having to receive incorrect information about the school. In the past two days, the leadership, relevant agencies and parent representatives have worked directly with relevant people and verified all information,” the announcement began.

Viet Sing Kindergarten System believes that the problem started with a former employee of Green Kindergarten (the old name of the new Viet Sing Kindergarten). From July 1, 2023, this school was taken over by the investor of Viet Sing Kindergarten. When taking over, the new investor cannot accept all the old staff but will have to balance the appropriate level, which leads to dissatisfaction of this employee. “This employee has spread and posted negative information about the children’s food portions and quality. This has caused confusion among parents. In fact, Green Kindergarten has just received the transfer and immediately started renovating the kitchen and canteen, food is being cooked and processed at Viet Sing Sunrise and transported to Green School. The repair time is expected to be completed before the new school year starts, during which time parents can completely monitor the quality via cameras, Kids Online software or come to check directly at the school,” the notice said.

Regarding the photos that were circulated about the hygiene of trays, bedding, and water sources at Viet Sing Garden Hills, Viet Sing Kindergarten System stated that during the process of posting and spreading the information, a teacher who had quit the school provided information proving that the problems in these photos were real, causing confusion among parents and the public.

“Regarding the photo of the dish tray being washed in the toilet, regardless of the circumstances under which this photo was taken, the management board would like to admit that this was an operational error. The act of placing the food tray on the toilet is unacceptable. The management board, the principal and the teachers have seriously reviewed and will not let similar incidents happen again,” Viet Sing Kindergarten System admitted.

Regarding the photo of blankets and pillows strewn across the floor, the school said, “This was a staged photo, because teachers would never allow children’s blankets and pillows to be strewn across the floor like this. According to the teachers at the school, this photo could only have been taken when adding or removing cotton to the pillows before the new school year.”

Regarding the image of black water flowing from the faucet, the Board of Directors of Viet Sing Kindergarten System said, “This black water phenomenon comes from the cleaning of the basin. At Garden Hills, in the past, two parallel water sources have been used. Regarding the water filtration system, the school uses a purification tank provided by Global Technology Equipment Joint Stock Company - the Director of the Company also has a child studying at the school. The filtration system has been inspected and has a license attached, the water is used for washing, flushing toilets, watering plants and fire prevention. This water is absolutely not used for eating and drinking, because Garden Hills receives food from the centralized kitchen at Sunrise. The kitchen area of ​​this facility is in the process of completion”.

Meanwhile, on the afternoon of July 27, speaking to a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. Pham Anh Duc - Chairman of the Board of Directors of this kindergarten system, said that the image of black water flowing from the faucet was taken a long time ago. "That was after a long break due to the Covid-19 epidemic, so the water in the tank was stagnant, when the faucet was turned on, that phenomenon occurred," said Mr. Duc.

Similarly, responding to the press, Ms. Tran Nga - Vice Principal of Viet Sing Garden Hills Kindergarten also said that the photo was taken 2 years ago. That was in April 2021, after the Covid-19 epidemic ended, the school opened, because the water source had not been used for a long time, it was dirty and muddy. "When cleaning, the teachers saw dirty water so they reported it to the principal, then the school changed the filter so the water was clean again. The school never uses such dirty water for children," said Ms. Nga.

However, many parents later provided evidence showing that the image of the black running water was only taken at the end of 2022. At this point, the kindergarten system changed its mind and said that "the black water came from cleaning the tub". This made many parents even more upset. "The school made excuses, sometimes saying this, sometimes saying that. They did not take it seriously", said one parent.

In addition, regarding the photo of bedding scattered on the floor, many parents also disagreed with the school's explanation. "Above, the school said that the photo was staged on purpose and argued that teachers would never leave bedding scattered like that. That explanation is very subjective and baseless. Not to mention, above, it says that the photo was staged, but the sentence below says that the teachers speculated that the photo was taken while adding or removing cotton to the pillow before the new school year. That explanation is very vague and contradictory," another teacher said indignantly.

Also in the announcement, the leadership of Viet Sing Kindergarten System admitted that they were lax and lacked close supervision in personnel management and operations. The leadership immediately decided to adjust and fix…

After the announcement, many parents were still dissatisfied with the school's handling of the situation. "In this announcement, the school still hasn't realized where it went wrong and what needs to be fixed to reassure parents," one parent said.

Right below the school's announcement post, another parent said, "There are too many problems with tuition fees increasing steadily, meals are not guaranteed, milk is not suitable, the toilets are too dirty, dilapidated, and the drinking cups are chipped and not replaced. The old school supplies have not been renewed for 7 years, there are not enough teachers to meet the needs of learning and living, the child has no outdoor activities. The child was picked up in a dirty and smelly condition. The school is requested to quickly arrange an urgent parent meeting." This comment quickly received nearly 200 likes.

In addition, many parents were also dissatisfied when the school did not clearly explain the images of children's meals being shared on social media. "The school said the images were posted by a former employee of the school who was dissatisfied because he was not hired. But they did not answer whether the images were true or not and whether the meals in the images were of good quality or not?", another parent asked.

To continue clarifying parents' questions, on the morning of July 28, the reporter repeatedly contacted Mr. Pham Anh Duc - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet Sing International Education Development Joint Stock Company but was unsuccessful.

According to the reporter's investigation, the Viet Sing Kindergarten system in Vinh City currently has 4 schools. Of which, Viet Sing Garden Hills Kindergarten has 8 classes, with nearly 200 children attending but does not have a kitchen. Meals are cooked at Viet Sing Sunrise Kindergarten (located on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street, Vinh City), then transferred. However, during the food safety monitoring process at schools in Nghe An province in 2022, the Nghe An Food Safety and Hygiene Department discovered that Viet Sing Sunrise Kindergarten had not properly implemented the regulations on the 3-step food inspection regime.

Previously, on November 23, 2022, Viet Sing Garden Hills Kindergarten was administratively fined VND 90 million by the People's Committee of Nghe An province for putting the project into operation without a certificate or document approving the fire prevention and fighting design.