Preschool students are out of school due to Covid-19, both parents and schools have a 'headache'

Struggling to keep the baby

Hoang Thi Lam and her husband in Nghi Kim commune (Vinh city) are both civil servants, her husband is working far from home, only coming home a few times a month. Her family has 2 young children, one of whom is under 2 years old, so childcare is a difficult problem.

Because of this, when their second daughter was 15 months old, the family decided to send her to a non-public kindergarten, picking her up every day at around 6pm. But since mid-May, when the school was forced to temporarily close to prevent the epidemic according to the announcement of the Department of Education and Training, the couple was in a dilemma because they did not know where to send their child.

Workers in Bac Vinh Industrial Park send their children to private kindergartens. Photo: My Ha

“Every day, from early morning, the three of us go to my grandmother’s house in Hung Nguyen and then come back in the evening to pick up our children. But I said I would leave my children with my grandmother, but I still feel uneasy because my grandparents are old and my grandmother is often sick. Meanwhile, my child is still young and cries a lot. I had no choice but to send my child to a family daycare center near my house, but because of the poor conditions, every day my child goes to school, he comes back sick and has diarrhea. Now I just hope the school will reopen so my children can go to school because after all, they are familiar with the class, friends, and teachers.”

Since the beginning of this week, because there was no one to look after her children, Ms. Nhu Binh in Hung Binh ward (Vinh city) has also had to take time off work because there was no one at home to look after her two young children. Fearing that this situation would continue, his wife also had to go online to find a babysitter... The post had just been posted for less than an hour, Ms. Binh was very surprised because she had not seen any babysitting classes, but she received many other shares from fathers and mothers in the same situation. Through social networks, she also learned that there are currently some teachers who have had to stay home from school and are eager to take on babysitting to increase their income. However, due to industry regulations, these teachers are still worried because they are afraid of violating the regulations.

Le Mao Kindergarten instructs students to wash their hands with sanitizer before entering the school. Photo: My Ha

Since May 17, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, all schools in Nghe An province have allowed students to leave school 2 weeks earlier. For other levels of education, this does not affect the teaching program too much because this is also the end of the second semester. However, for preschools, this has a significant impact on school activities, especially private preschools.

Teacher Le Thi Thuy - Vice Principal of a kindergarten in Hung Dung ward said: "Our school was established not long ago and the teachers are mostly very young. Therefore, when we had to stop studying, most of the teachers became unemployed. For now, we are trying to pay the teachers' salaries in May, but if the school is closed for a long time, the school will not have enough funds to pay the teachers' salaries."

Considerations when “opening” schools

In connection with this content,Department of Education and Trainingjust held an expanded meeting to discuss childcare during the summer. In addition to leaders of the Department of Education and Training, there were also representatives of private kindergartens. Through the opinions of the schools, it can be seen that the decision to stop school not only affects the lives of parents and students but also causes many difficulties for schools.

Ms. Vo Thi Duyen - Principal of Green School Kindergarten said: “In the past 2 years, private kindergartens have been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The most worrying thing is that currently, private schools depend on collecting tuition fees from students and follow the business model. Therefore, if students do not go to school, the school will have no source of income to pay teachers' salaries, no funds to pay off debts to banks... Many teachers in the previous pandemic had to quit their jobs because they had to take a long break. Even in this pandemic, because many parents are afraid that their children will be off from school from the beginning of May, schools cannot collect tuition fees or many parents have not paid yet. Meanwhile, schools still have to pay teachers' salaries in full."

Representatives of private kindergartens in Vinh city give their opinions on students returning to school. Photo: My Ha

The above shortcomings also show that the current school closure is causing many problems for parents, students and schools. With the spirit of both fighting the epidemic and still having to carry out the dual task of developing the economy and stabilizing people's lives, the Department of Education and Training has considered allowing schools to reopen. However, the current problem is how to ensure the safety of children when going to school.

In Vinh city, there are currently more than 40 private kindergartens and more than 100 facilities.private preschool. If all these schools and facilities were to close, it would affect the lives of hundreds of teachers and staff. Moreover, the need for parents to send their children to daycare is real.

However, if we organize for children to return to school, the issue of safety for schools and children must be the top priority, especially in private preschools where the physical facilities are still very inadequate. Therefore, if schools are reopened, in addition to strictly implementing the "5K" regulations, schools need to have their own plans to ensure the safety of students during the Covid-19 season, depending on each condition and each different group of students. Schools must have a commitment to parents and students for the safety of children.

Ms. Hoang Thi Phuong Thao - Head of Education and Training Department of Vinh City.

Teaching in kindergartens can only be carried out when disease prevention and control work is ensured. Photo: Duc Anh

Regarding the Department of Education and Training, Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa - Deputy Director of the Department said: "At this time, the Department still maintains the viewpoint that children's safety must be put first. However, to harmonize the needs of parents and schools, we will consider the wishes and create conditions for schools to resume operations if the conditions for disease prevention and control are ensured and the schools do a good job of propaganda for parents and students. In addition, going to school will only be implemented when the epidemic situation in the province is under control."

The leaders of the Department of Education and Training also said that organizing summer classes must be voluntary, parents who want to send their children to summer classes must submit an application for summer classes. During the implementation process, schools need to develop appropriate educational programs and strictly implement regulations on safe schools. Schools also need to arrange school health staff to monitor health and coordinate with teachers in caring for and nurturing children according to the current preschool education program.