School hours finish at 4.30-5 pm, while parents cannot leave offices before 5.30 or 6 pm. That is the reason why a new kind of service has appeared in HCM City – supervising children after school.

The demand is high

“Our child leaves school at 5 pm every day. Both my husband and I have to leave the office late, so we cannot pick up our child, a second grader” said Phan Thi Thong Nhat, who lives in Tan Binh District. “Several months ago, after hearing that there is a center which can take care of the children after school, I decided to use the service. The service is good, because it fulfills our needs”.

According to Nhat, workers of Happy Back Home center are present at exactly 5 pm every day to pick up children. The children then are carried by taxi to the center, where they can relax, have a bath, drink milk and then have light meals. At 6 pm, children begin studying with teachers who show them how to do homework exercises and other work. The teaching sessions finish at 8 pm.

“I have to do only one thing – pick up my child at 8 pm. Our child does not have to study at home anymore, because he finishes his work at the center. Therefore, we have more time to talk with him during the dinner, something that we could not do in the past,” Nhat said.

The total sum of money Nhat has to pay for the service is 1.6 million dong a month, which, according to Nhat, is not costly. In the past, tutoring lessons alone cost Nhat 1.5 million dong a month.

Meanwhile, Phan Minh Anh, who lives in Go Vap district, related that she has to spend 600,000 dong a month for a similar service. Every day, her child – a third grader, is picked up from school and carried to a house, where he can relax, have a snack and prepare for the next day’s lessons.

“The service provider is a retired state employee. She loves children, therefore, she provides the service,” Anh said.

In fact, Anh feels a little bit worried about the service, because her child has to stay in a cramped room after school where many students are gathered. Meanwhile, the meals are not very good, and the service providers are not trained teachers. However, Anh said she does not have any other choice.

“My husband and I return home late, at 7 pm every day. It takes us another hour or so more hours to prepare dinner. Therefore, my child does not have time to both eat dinner and prepare for the next day’s lessons. Meanwhile, children need to go to bed soon,” she complained.

The high demand from parents like Thong Nhat and Anh has led to the strong development of afterschool programs in HCM City.

Problems exist

Dong Thi Minh, a parent in Phu Nhuan district, related that she has been relying on the service provided by a kindergarten teacher. After school, the teacher needs to carry her child to the teacher home, feed the child a glass of milk and let him play while waiting for the parents to come.

“One day, I left the office early and decided to go to the kindergarten to pick up my child. When I got there, I saw a motorbike that carried five children aged from three to five. I saw my child sitting behind the motorbike driver, with no seat belt. It was terrible,” she said.

Many parents have another worry about the safety of the service. After the school hours, children are taken to the homes of service providers. Meanwhile, the design of houses is completely different from the design of kindergartens. For example, sockets at homes are within the reach of children. Meanwhile, teachers do not spend much time taking care of children, because they have to arrange work themselves.

The most ideal solution for keeping children after school hours is that schools provide extra services. However, school teachers do not agree to working extra hours. Therefore, using afterschool services remains the choice of many parents.

Source: Tien phong