Around the incident of kindergarten teachers kneeling in Thanh Chuong: Many violations

The preschool campus in Thanh Chuong town was built quite spaciously and put into operation nearly a year ago, although it has not completed the required procedures.

Illegal construction

In Thanh Chuong district, the number of preschool and primary school students is overloaded, the number of classrooms does not meet the teaching requirements. Therefore, the policy of implementing the project of socializing the opening of private preschools is necessary, in line with the socio-economic development orientation of the locality, contributing to improving the effectiveness of child care, nurturing and education, meeting practical needs, solving the shortage of classrooms in the area.

On that basis, Thanh Chuong district agreed with the Submission No. 26/TTr-MS on the request for survey and selection of land rental locations to implement the project of building a private Kindergarten and Primary School in Thanh Chuong district town, of Minh Sang Construction and Education Investment Joint Stock Company, sent on December 2, 2016.

The objective of this project is “Investing in new private kindergartens and primary schools to meet the needs of raising children in Thanh Chuong town and neighboring areas, in line with the policy of socialization and the requirements of educational development. Enrollment scale: Preschool education: 500-600 students, Primary education: 400 students. Total investment capital of the project: 37 billion VND”.

Based on reviewing and synthesizing opinions of relevant departments, branches and Thanh Chuong district, on November 20, 2017, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 5619/QD-UBND on approving the investment policy of Thanh Chuong Tuoi Tho Kindergarten and Thanh Chuong Primary School projects.

However, while waiting for the opinions of the departments, branches and the Provincial People's Committee on the approval of the investment policy, Minh Sang Company has carried out construction on the land under the management of the Center for Vocational Education and Continuing Education of Thanh Chuong District. The construction period started from December 2016 to April 2017, the volume of items implemented includes 8 classrooms (level 4 houses); kitchen, stage, outdoor swimming pool, internal roads and trees.

The construction of the preschool facility in Thanh Chuong town was carried out by Minh Sang Company without any written permission from the competent authority.

"Circumventing the law" to recruit students

Although the required procedures have not been completed, after investing in the construction of 8 classrooms and auxiliary works, Minh Sang Investment and Education Joint Stock Company began enrolling students and going into operation.

On March 31, 2017, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee issued Decision No. 1097/QD-UBND to establish a Team to inspect the operating conditions of non-public preschools in the district. On April 2, 2017, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee issued Decision No. 1106/QD-UBND to suspend the operation of Tuoi Tho Kindergarten in Block 3, Thanh Chuong Town.

Due to not meeting the conditions to establish a private kindergarten, Minh Sang Company switched to operating an independent nursery group and requested the authorities to allow the establishment of 2 independent private nursery groups.

Although only allowed to enroll 100 children, the number of students at this facility is usually from 200 - 300 children.

Accordingly, on March 31, 2017, Minh Sang Company submitted Document No. 09/TTr-CT requesting permission to establish an independent private nursery group. Based on the appraisal results in Document No. 101/GD&DT dated April 12, 2017, of the Department of Education and Training of Thanh Chuong District. On April 16, 2017, Thanh Chuong Town People's Committee issued Decision No. 91/QD.UBND on allowing the establishment of the independent private nursery group Tuoi Tho Thanh Chuong, chaired by Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham.

On May 29, 2017, Minh Sang Company continued to submit Document No. 15/TTr-CT on the request for permission to establish additional private independent kindergarten groups and classes Tuoi Tho. On June 26, 2017, Thanh Chuong Town People's Committee issued Decision No. 138/QD-UBND on permission to establish Thanh Chuong private independent kindergarten group Tuoi Tho, headed by Ms. Tran Thi Ba.

The total number of nursery groups approved by the Thanh Chuong District Department of Education and Training for Minh Sang Company to establish is 2 nursery groups, with a maximum of 100 children. However, in reality, the facility has enrolled 8 classes with 215 children, exceeding the regulation of 115 children.

The number of children at an independent preschool in Thanh Chuong town exceeds the regulation by over 100 children.

It is worth mentioning that, for a long time, the Town People's Committee and the District Department of Education and Training knew that Minh Sang Construction and Education Investment Joint Stock Company illegally built (8 classrooms and auxiliary works with a total value of about 5 billion VND) on the land of Thanh Chuong District Vocational Technical Center, but still allowed enrollment and operation.

The handling of violations has only stopped at Documents and Decisions on administrative sanctions in construction activities, without any additional sanctions or remedial measures for the illegal construction and operation of Minh Sang Company.

In addition to not preventing illegal construction and agreeing to establish a nursery group at an illegal construction site, when this facility enrolled more students than the regulations, the authorities in Thanh Chuong also did not take timely measures to prevent and remedy the situation.

Faced with that situation, the Provincial People's Committee established an interdisciplinary inspection team for this project. On March 1, 2018, the interdisciplinary inspection team reported the inspection results of the Thanh Chuong Kindergarten and Thanh Chuong Primary School projects.

On that basis, on April 4, 2018, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 2087, requesting "Inspection and supervision of the implementation of steps by the Investor according to regulations to be allocated land/lease land. By the end of May 30, 2018 (end of the 2017-2018 school year), if the investor does not complete the procedures, suspend enrollment activities, and propose a handling plan according to the provisions of law".

On June 4, 2018, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district held a working session with Minh Sang Construction and Education Investment Joint Stock Company, and requested to immediately stop enrolling, caring for, nurturing and educating children at the illegally built facility.

With the above violations, on June 5, 2018, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district issued Decision No. 89, canceling the decisions on the establishment of private independent kindergartens operating in Block 3 of the town, because "when deciding to open classes, the investor did not fully carry out the legal procedures as prescribed".

But on June 6, 2018, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district inspected this facility and found it "still operating normally, with 8 nursery classes and 216 children studying".

On June 12, 2018, Thanh Chuong Town People's Committee continued to draw up a record requesting the investor to stop activities at this violating facility and an incident occurred where some people knelt down in front of the working group and then posted a clip of this scene online, causing an offensive image.

It can be said that the implementation of socialization in the field of preschool education is in line with the policies of the Party and the State. However, investors also need to comply with the law, and authorities at all levels and the education sector also need to supervise and inspect the implementation of the investor's project, and cannot loosen management leading to regrettable violations such as at the private preschool in Thanh Chuong town.

(To be continued)