Nursery schools begin their Tet holiday on January 28, 2011, or the 25^th of lunar December. Meanwhile, state employees still have to work until the end of the 27^th of December of Lunar Year. Therefore, there is a high demand for childcare services.

Thu Hao, who lives in Binh Thanh District in HCM City, has been moving heaven and earth these days to find childcare service providers. “All the private run schools told me that there is no more room for my child. They said that I should have registered one month before,” Hao says.

Other mothers also complain that they have nowhere to send their children to on pre-Tet days, because they still have to work, while nursery schools all close for Tet holiday. “The teacher of my child said that she already has 12 children to take care of these days, and she cannot take in more still do not know what to do with my child,” a mother in district 1 in HCM City complains.

The mother says that even if they can find a private run class, she would feel insecure to bring her child to the class, because the teachers there are strange to the child. “In such a strange environment, my child may cry all day and refuse to eat,” she complains.

Nursery school teachers have also admitted that the demand for extra childcare services is very high these days, despite the high fee. A teacher said that she agreed to take care of four children at the fee of 120-170,000 dong per day.

Le Tam, a teacher at a nursery school in Phu Nhuan District in HCM City says that at first she refused to take care of children on pre-Tet days, but as parents insisted / pleaded, she had to open a class these days.

In Hanoi, on January 25, Hoa, who lives in Thanh Xuan Bac residential quarter, related that after considering the fee, he decided to bring his child to a private run class. However, the service fee is very high, 300,000 dong per day.

“We have to bring the child to the class early in the morning and pick him up before 7 pm,” he said.

A parent who has a son going to Trung Tu Primary School says that a group of parents has asked the teacher to help take care of their children on pre-Tet days. The teacher will feed them and make sure they do their homework.

“Even primary school students also need to review their lessons these days, or they will go out and do foolish things,” the parent says.

Meanwhile, headmasters of some nursery and primary schools say that the schools discourage teachers from providing childcare services. However, the classes still run because of the high demand from parents.

Some parents have other choice: they hire home helpers for pre-Tet days. These are mainly students, who do not have money to return to their home villages to celebrate Tet. The students can earn 50,000-200,000 dong per day.

As the demand for childcare services has been increasing, a lot of service brokers have appeared in Hanoi. A broker at a center on Ngo Gach street says that the fee on pre-Tet days is hovering around 120-150,000 dong per day. Meanwhile, parents have to pay 350,000 dong in brokerage fee. Another broker on Kim Ma street said that she can introduce baby-sitting service for 150,000 dong per day, if people pay her 500,000 dong in brokerage fee.

Source: Tuoi tre