Nghe An has more than 100 kindergartens where parents are having to cook for their children themselves.

According to the Department of Education and Training, the province currently has 129 public kindergartens in extremely disadvantaged communes. However, there are currently 101 kindergartens that organize boarding in the form of "residential boarding" (accounting for 78.3%).

Specifically, in 101 schools, there are 426 separate schools where children eat lunch at school with meals prepared by their parents at home; in 50 schools, parents contribute additional food and fuel, and the school encourages parents to send someone to coordinate with teachers to cook extra soup for children to eat lunch at school.

In the remaining 28 schools, the organization of boarding is currently socialized by mobilizing parents to support food, fuel and part of the budget to hire cooks or mobilizing teachers and parents to cook for children at school.

Boarding model for foster parents at Chau Hoi Kindergarten - Quy Chau. Photo: MH

Previously, since 2018, in the province's extremely disadvantaged communes, preschool-age children studying in preschools have been provided with state funding for lunch according to Decree 06/2018/ND-CP of the Government. However, due to the extremely difficult lives of the mountainous people, the school has not been able to mobilize contributions from parents to pay for the contract of a cook for boarding at the school. Meanwhile, the regular budget for preschools only covers salaries and administrative and professional expenses of the school.

In reality, the above form of boarding school depends on the conditions of each family, so it does not ensure a balanced diet for children; there is always a potential risk of food safety and hygiene for children because the food source brought from home to school is not controlled.

Through the assessment of nutritional status at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, the rate of malnourished children in extremely disadvantaged communes is over 9%; higher than the average of the whole province from 3.6% to 6.5%.

Boarding conditions at remote schools face many difficulties. Photo: MH

To overcome this situation, the Department of Education and Training has also issued a document requesting financial support to contract labor to serve the cooking work at public kindergartens in especially disadvantaged communes in Nghe An province.

On that basis, it is expected that by 2020, funding will be provided from the provincial budget for 129 public preschools in 123 communes in Nghe An province to organize boarding meals for children at school according to the preschool education program issued by the Ministry of Education and Training.

This is a humane and practical policy for schools, creating conditions for preschools to organize boarding care and nutrition for children, ensuring food safety and hygiene, reducing the rate of malnutrition for children aged 0 to 6 years old.