State owned nursery schools will only begin issuing forms for applications for the schools from July 1, 2011. However, seats at the schools have run out since early June.

3-4-year old children cannot find seats at state owned schools

Kim Nhung, a mother in Go Vap District, said that her daughter was born in 2008, and she wants to send the daughter to a nursery school this year. The Ngoc Lan Nursery School, which is just tens of meters far from her house, issued application forms on June 6. However, she could not register a seat at the school for the child, even though under the current regulations, the children in the ward 16 all have the right to go to Ngoc Lan School.

In the morning of June 14, Saigon Tiep Thi’s reporters, who acted as the parents seeking to purchase application forms, came to the Hoang Yen Nursery School on Thong Nhat Road in Go Vap District. They were told that the school will only accept the children from some wards of the districts as requested.

An officer here said that the classes for 3-year old children have been full (40 children per class). However, the “parents” were asked to return on June 27 to see if the school can arrange seats for more children, if the parents still cannot find any schools by that time.

At the Ngoc Lan Nursery School, Le Ngoc Huyen, a mother said angrily that her daughter could not enroll in the school, even though they live in the right ward.

Under the current regulations, nursery schools receive children based on their accommodations. The children, who live in some certain areas, will be accepted to some certain schools. When registering seats at schools, parents have to show the residential books to prove their permanent accommodations.

However, some parents complain that schools have ignored the regulations, and that their children cannot enroll in the schools to which they have the right to go to.

Giving priority to 5-year-old children

Dang Thanh Tuan, Head of the Education and Training Sub-department in Go Vap District, said that at present, nursery schools are only running summer classes, while the enrolment for official classes will only begin from early July, and that situation would change.

However, Tuan has admitted that all the state owned nursery schools in the district have been overloaded. Meanwhile, three out of 16 wards in the district still do not have state owned schools.

“We understand well the willingness of parents, but we still have to advise them to bring children to people founded schools. A lot of non-state schools have good material facilities and qualified teachers,” he said.

The same situation can be seen in Tan Phu district. Chung Thi Bich Phuong, deputy head of the district’s education sub-department, said in 2011-2012, Tan Phu does not enroll three and four year old children to state owned schools, even though the children have permanent residential books.

The problems that the district has 5500 5-year-old children, who have the priority to go to nursery schools in the compulsory education program for 5-year-old children. HCM City plans to fulfill the education universalization program by 2012.

As a result, the children at the age of three or less have to go to private schools.

A lot of parents in Go Vap, Tan Phu, Binh Tan Districts complain that they feel anxious because they still have not found the schools for their children. Tran Thi Huynh Trang, a garment worker in ward 16 of Go Vap District, said that she has come to many schools but the schools all say they have run out of seats for 3-year old children.

“An officer told me to return to the school on August 1. If some children move to other schools, my child would be accepted,” she said.

C.V