Children these days are not going on outdoor excursions or holidays in the countryside, nor are they catching up on their sleep, though it is the summer holiday and they do not have to go to school.

Tran Thi Thanh Nhan, Director of a construction company in HCM City, complained that problems always arise in summer because she does not know where to send her children. As her parents live far from the city, in the central region, they cannot help her look after the children.

She said that her daughter goes to the Children’s Culture House one time a week. “The Children’s Culture House has become a place to keep children in the summer,” she said. “The poor children in big cities!”

HCM City children’s culture house: a place to deposit children

At 10.30 am, Mai Truc An, 5, was standing in front of the children’s culture house in district 5, waiting for her mother to pick her up. An had finished a drawing class. An also attends music and dance classes at the centre. Everyday, An has two learning shifts, which begin at 8 am in the morning and 2 pm in the afternoon. In the evening, her mother teaches her writing and English at home.

Van Duc Tuan in Phu Nhuan district related that he has registered his daughter for three classes at culture houses, basketball, chess and aerobics. His daughter will learn basketball from 7.30 am to 8.30 am and then learn chess until 9.30 am. The child begins aerobics after that.

Tuan said that he and his wife both have to go to work and they have to send the daughter to the classes at the culture houses. Tuan is also looking for someplace to send her in the afternoon.

Nguyen Thi Hai cited a special reason that prompted her to send her son to classes at the culture house. Hung, 10, her son, is ‘addicted’ to games and so Hai decided to send him to classes in order to help him ‘detox’.

According to Tran Minh Thao from Phu Nhuan district’s Culture Centre, more and more parents bring their children to the culture house in the summer.

Hanoi: more and more summer classes opened

Lai Hong Dang, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Children’s Palace, said that only a few thousand students attended classes at the palace during the school year, while the number has surged to 13,000 this summer. Therefore, the palace organises six learning shifts every day, from 7.30am to 9 pm.

The palace now has classes in which 70 different subjects are being taught. Besides ‘traditional subjects’ like dancing, singing and drawing, there are also penmanship, fashion performance and photography classes. Foreign language classes prove to be the choice of many parents. English classes with native teachers are relatively pricey, 2 million dong per training course.

At this moment, in order to have enough classrooms, the palace has to use one room for two classes and use the corridor as a classroom as well. On ordinary days, every class has 20 students at maximum, while there are now 30-40 students in every class. The palace now has 300-350 collaborators who undertake classes, including students from art schools.

VietNamNet/TT