Management of non-public preschools: Many loopholes

(Baonghean) - Child abuse cases in non-public preschools and private nurseries that have occurred in Binh Duong province, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi... in recent times have caused parents who have to send their children to these types of facilities to worry. This is even more true when nearly 70% of the independent and private childcare groups currently in Vinh City are operating without a license...

Mrs. Truong Thi Oanh's daycare class is located in a row of apartment buildings in block 20, Hung Binh ward (Vinh city). The small level 4 house has only 1 room, of which 1 is a living room, the remaining room is about 20 square meters, where about 7-8 children from 12 to 36 months old eat, play, sleep, and rest. Knowing that I intended to send my child to the daycare, Ms. Oanh enthusiastically said: "I have been doing this job for a long time. All the children here are sent by acquaintances. The children here only have to pay 1-1.1 million VND per month, and have 2 meals a day, lunch and dinner." Looking around the small room, we saw very few toys, no learning tools. The babysitter has never attended any training course in preschool pedagogy. Supporting the owner is a girl who is only about 17 or 18 years old.

Playtime for children of Sao Mai children's group, Dong Vinh ward.

Going to another daycare center of Mrs. Dinh Thi Bon in block 19, Hung Binh ward at around 10 am, the class had 6 children, 2 of whom were sleeping on mats spread on the floor. The remaining children were hanging around in the living room, only a few dozen meters long. In the room, besides 2 chairs used for haircuts, there was no other furniture. A musty, pungent smell wafted up. Seeing the guests arrive, Mrs. Bon, who was about 50 years old, hurriedly ran out from the kitchen and introduced her daycare center. She was a former worker of Construction Company 12, but had to quit her job to stay home and take care of her children because she had twins. Seeing that she had time, people around her sent their children to her to look after, and over time her house became a famous "babysitting" spot... The advantage here is that "you can send and pick up your child at any time, even at 9 or 10 pm. There are days when the family is busy, they bring the child at 5 am and Mrs. Bon still enthusiastically picks them up", said Mrs. Nguyen Thi T, the grandmother of TD who was sent here. Knowing that Mrs. Bon's class is not as neat and clean as some other private kindergartens in the area, the family still decided to send them because there is no place with more flexible hours than here...

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Vice Chairman of Hung Binh Ward People's Committee, there are currently 6 childcare centers in the ward and all are spontaneous, each center has from 3 to 12 children, except for Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyet in Lien Co block, who is a teacher with a degree in Mountainous Pedagogy, the rest are untrained and have no degrees. The classes do not follow the educational program, do not have equipment, toys and minimum teaching materials according to regulations. In the classroom, there is no separate toilet for the children but they are shared with the family. Although every year the ward assigns Hung Binh Kindergarten to inspect and monitor the activities of the classes and according to regulations, these classes do not meet the conditions for licensing, it is very difficult to "close". Because currently the demand for childcare from parents in the ward is very high, while the ward's kindergarten cannot meet it. Besides, the ward also does not have the human resources to monitor the activities of these classes regularly. Many times when checking, they found that there was a babysitter in the house, but when asked for documents, the babysitters often "covered up" that the neighbor sent them to look after them, so we had to accept it...".

The lack of schools is the reason why private kindergartens (generally called independent kindergartens) in the city are developing rapidly as they are today. The whole city has up to 62 independent kindergartens, present in almost all wards, of which the most are in Dong Vinh ward (8 groups), Ha Huy Tap (6), Hung Binh (6), Cua Nam (6), Vinh Tan (6), Trung Do (4)... However, currently only 22 of these kindergartens are licensed, the rest are operating illegally. In general, these classrooms have very poor facilities, are lacking, and do not ensure safety. The formation of the kindergartens is spontaneous, and the team of babysitters is not specialized. Most of the caretakers have small classrooms, no gardens, and unclean restrooms that do not meet standards. In some independent kindergartens, there are 5-year-old children but they have not enjoyed the learning, care, and education conditions according to the project to universalize education for 5-year-old children. Even licensed childcare groups still do not comply with legal regulations such as not having a signboard of the childcare group or kindergarten class, address, phone number, decision number, etc. The quality of teachers is not high, mainly young teachers without experience in nurturing, caring for, and educating children, in some places the teachers are not qualified. Some school and group owners do not have certificates of preschool teacher training or management according to regulations.

This reality is also a difficulty for the management of the Vinh City Department of Education and Training. Ms. Le Thi Phuong - Deputy Head of the City Department of Education and Training said: According to Decision 41 and Circular 28 on the regulations on the organization and operation of private kindergartens, the Department of Education and Training is responsible for receiving and organizing the appraisal of application files for permission to operate educational activities of organizations and individuals applying for establishment licenses. The agency that agrees to grant licenses, suspend or withdraw licenses is under the management of wards and communes. However, currently, localities have not strictly managed this activity, and it is still a matter of favoritism...

Objectively, the city's facilities for preschool education are too lacking, not meeting the needs of the people. Specifically, the whole city has 30,047 children aged 3 months to 5 years old, but currently the number of children attending classes (including independent classes) is only 17,884 (accounting for 59.5%). Because there are no schools for children to go to, many families do not have babysitters, so they have to "bite the bullet" and send their children to private kindergartens, even though they know that this place is not safe and does not have enough conditions to form a class according to regulations. In addition, in the city, the number of children without household registration accounts for a large proportion, so private kindergartens with low tuition fees, flexible hours, and easy admission are a "lifesaver", especially in areas with industrial parks and many freelance workers.

In order to strengthen the management of this non-public type, recently the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City has sent many documents to the People's Committees of wards, communes and kindergartens in the city to review and inspect the conditions for establishment and operation of non-public preschools. On that basis, classify to continue granting licenses to qualified facilities and propose to suspend facilities that do not comply with current regulations. In addition, it is necessary to promote propaganda and public announcement of non-public preschools in the area that have been licensed and have not been licensed for parents to know and choose schools. Strengthen supervision to detect educational facilities that operate in violation of regulations and do not ensure safety, request local authorities to handle according to regulations...

My Ha