Nghe An moves towards building kindergartens for workers' children

This is a humane and practical policy that is receiving much attention from trade unions, businesses and especially workers in industrial parks.

EXPECTED POLICY

Ms. Thu Ha - a worker at Minh Anh Kim Lien Garment Joint Stock Company (Bac Vinh Industrial Park) said that recently, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, her income has decreased, making her family's life difficult. At the beginning of the school year, she often has to struggle to find money to buy books, notebooks, uniforms and pay tuition for her children. Therefore, when she heard that there was a policy to support children of workers working in industrial parks (IPs) during this time, Ms. Thu Ha found it even more meaningful for workers in IPs. "I hope that this policy will soon be implemented so that workers can share part of the childcare costs, helping us have a more stable life," Ms. Thu Ha shared.

The need for childcare for workers in industrial zones is huge. Photo: PV

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai - a worker at BSE Vietnam Electronics Co., Ltd. (Nam Cam Industrial Park) said: "I have 2 children (the first is in primary school and the other is in a private kindergarten in Khanh Hop commune (Nghi Loc) with a tuition fee of nearly 1.5 million VND/month/child). Currently, my average salary is 5 million VND/month, my husband is a freelancer, his income is not stable, so my family's life is also "unstable". Now that there is a support policy for workers' children, we are very excited because the difficulties of workers have been "shared" by the Party and the State, supporting part of the monthly tuition fees for our children. I hope that the trade union, businesses as well as the locality will support us with the procedures so that workers' children can quickly enjoy this policy".

ChairpersonTrade UnionTruong Thi Thanh, head of VietGlory Company Limited (Dien Chau), said: “The company currently has 300 employees, of which 90% are female. The policy of supporting children of workers and employees with 160,000 VND/child/month is very practical, meeting the wishes, aspirations and needs of employees. When knowing this information, most female employees with young children and about to get married are very excited. Along with the attention of trade unions, enterprises and all levels and sectors, I hope that workers' children will be able to go to school and be raised in a good environment; the lives of employees will be increasingly improved and enhanced.”

VietGlory Company Limited (Dien Chau) is excited about the policy of developing non-public preschool education for workers' children. Photo: PV

Mr. Pham Hong Vinh - Director of ICEM Joint Stock Company (VSIP Industrial Park) said: "The lives of workers are still difficult, especially during the epidemic, many businesses are forced to cut staff, causing workers' income to decrease, so this policy is extremely necessary in the current period, greatly affecting the spirit of workers. From there, workers will have more motivation to work well, accompany businesses to overcome difficulties, and stabilize production".

Chairman of the Provincial Labor Federation Kha Van Tam talks and shares the hardships of workers at the boarding house. Photo: PV

According to Vice President of the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union Tran Thi Nguyet, in recent times, the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union has organized many activities and programs to take care of workers' children such as: Organizing Mid-Autumn Festival, International Children's Day (June 1), summer camps for workers' children, rewarding workers' children with high academic achievements. Activities of giving books, gifts... not only encourage and support in studying and training but also share with workers to take good care of their children. Many grassroots trade unions have successfully negotiated with enterprises with policies to support female workers raising young children with an additional allowance of 50,000-150,000 VND/month/child.

However, the biggest difficulty for workers in industrial parks today is that no business or unit has invested in building kindergartens to raise and educate workers' children with low tuition fees. The reason is that there is no land fund, limited budget, when planning to build industrial parks, there is often no land fund for building kindergartens for workers' children.

NEED TO EXPAND BENEFICIARIES

Decree 105/2020/ND-CP stipulates policies for preschool education development, including subsidy policies for preschool children who are children of workers and employees working in industrial parks. The beneficiaries of the policy are children studying at private preschools that have been licensed by competent authorities to establish and operate in accordance with regulations, whose father, mother or caregiver is a worker or employee working in industrial parks with a labor contract signed by the enterprise according to regulations. Children in the above categories are supported with a minimum of VND 160,000/child/month. The support period is calculated based on the actual number of months of study, but not exceeding 9 months/school year.

Nghia Dan District Labor Federation visits children of workers in difficult circumstances. Photo: PV

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan - Director of Hanoi General Environment Joint Stock Company (Nghi Loc) said: Togetherworkers' childrenBut if only children of workers and laborers working in enterprises in industrial zones benefit from this policy, we are afraid that children of workers working outside industrial zones will be disadvantaged, which is unfair.

Chairman of the Dien Chau District Labor Federation Pham Duc Cuong said that in the context of the current difficult life of workers, supporting workers' children is very necessary, helping them solve the need to send their children to school and work with peace of mind. However, the policy to support workers' children should be expanded to include children of workers and workers working in enterprises outside industrial parks so that they can enjoy good benefits from this policy. Currently, there are about 450 large, small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Dien Chau district, but the number of enterprises located outside industrial parks and industrial clusters accounts for about 80%. Therefore, many workers working outside industrial parks are also looking forward to this support policy.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial Labor Federation Nguyen Chi Cong expressed his agreement that the policy to support children of workers; laborers and preschool teachers working in private and non-public facilities who are directly caring for and educating children in classes with 30% of the children being children of laborers working in industrial parks of Nghe An province, implemented at this time, has many profound humane meanings, aiming to provide timely support to children of workers and laborers, especially during the difficult period due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.

In fact, the current income of workers is still low, averaging 5-7 million VND/person/month, and life is still difficult. Monthly income must be spent on many expenses, including the cost of caring for, nurturing, and educating children. Therefore, this humane policy is a timely and necessary solution to share the difficulties with workers working in industrial parks. However, the support only focuses on certain subjects such as children of workers and employees working in enterprises in industrial parks, which has not met the actual needs. Hopefully, in the future, children of workers working in enterprises will all enjoy this preferential policy.

Nghe An Trade Union pays special attention to policies to support workers. Photo: PV

As of December 2020, there were 102,914 children attending preschools in 8 districts, cities and towns with industrial parks and industrial clusters (Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Tan Ky, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc, Hoang Mai, Cua Lo and Vinh city). Of which, the number of children attending public preschools was 84,075, private preschools was 18,542 and private preschools was 317. The number of children eligible to apply for the policy prescribed in Clause 1, Article 8, Decree 105 was 597, accounting for 3.22%.