Busy working parents say they have no choice but to send their children to full-day classes during the summer holidays.

Children play in the Ky Dong swimming pool in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 3.

An attends four classes each day including dancing, singing and organ lessons, and at night, her mother helps her practice English and writing. It’s a full schedule for a young child, especially considering that this is An’s summer vacation.

The situation is a common one. During the school holidays, many parents in HCMC and Hanoi say they’re simply too busy working to spend leisure time with their children or take them on trips outside the city.

Instead, most parents send their children to local recreational facilities, called culture houses, which offer a variety of classes and activities such as sports, arts, or academic subjects.

Le Thi Phuong Anh from HCMC’s District 4 says her daughter, who will enter first grade in the fall, is spending her summer holiday the same way as in previous years.

It means she will attend math and Vietnamese classes during the day in preparation for the first grade, and will take organ and gym classes in the evenings and on weekends, Anh says.

The only difference is that this summer, her daughter is also learning English in order to take an entrance exam for an English-intensive first-grade class, Anh adds.

“We both go to work and don’t come home until the evening, so we can’t help but send her to school. Though we feel sorry [that she has to study in the summer], we have no other choice,” Anh says.

Van Duc Tuan from Phu Nhuan District says he’s enrolled his nineyear-old daughter in basketball, chess, and gym classes this summer, with plans to register her in more.

Tuan echoes Anh, saying that he and his wife have no choice but to work and therefore rely on the extracurricular classes to keep their child busy during the day.

“My parents both work all day and don’t feel secure about letting me stay home alone,” says Dang Anh Quang, 14, who is taking music classes at a children’s culture house in HCMC’s District 9. “So my dad took me here and I attend classes from morning until the afternoon.”

Other parents, meanwhile, turn to culture houses out of concern their children will become addicted to online games if left alone.

Nguyen Thi Hai from HCMC’s Tan Binh District takes her 10-year-old son to a culture house for basketball and badminton classes every day, despite having to travel a long distance to get there.

Hai says she wants to “shorten” her son’s free time during the summer by enrolling him in sports classes so he won’t have time to think about playing online games.

“My husband and I only wish the new school year would come sooner so that we don’t have to worry anymore,” Hai says, adding that she also hopes sports can help her son overcome his addiction to Internet gaming.

Nguyen Thi Nguyen Anh from Hanoi says despite the scorching summer weather, between 39 and 40 degrees Celsius some days, she takes her children aged seven and 10 to classes each day.

“It’s good that the kids can learn a bit about sports and arts subjects, while the classes can also act as a safe daycare center for them,” Anh says.

Tran Minh Thao from Phu Nhuan District’s Cultural Center in HCMC says culture houses are a good option for busy parents.

“I think it’s good to let the kids study and participate in activities at culture houses during the summer, as it keeps them out of trouble,” says Tran Thuy Duong, whose child is taking classes at the Children’s Culture House in District 5, HCMC.

Crowded houses

With so many parents turning to culture houses during the summer holidays, the facilities consequently are often overcrowded.

A top choice for parents because of the high-quality classes offered, the HCMC Children’s Culture House is often full to capacity, and usually after just the first week of enrollment.

Joining a long line-up to register their children for classes, Hoang Yen from District 1 says, “I have been waiting for more than an hour but have yet to register my 10-year-old son for badminton and basketball classes.”

Tran Thuy Khanh from Tan Binh District, meanwhile, says, “My daughter is 14 years old. She likes learning modern dance, but the class was already full before the summer even started.”

Lai Hong Dang, vice director of the Hanoi Children’s Palace, said during the school year thousands of children take classes here, but when the summer comes there is often an increase of up to 13,000 kids, so the center has to run 70 different types of classes from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day.

Class sizes during the summer months increase on average from 20 students normally, up to between 30 and 40; while an additional 300-350 part-time instructors also have to be brought on board to help with the overflow, says Dang.

Many parents also enjoy the reasonable prices offered by the children’s culture houses. However, for those who want to enroll their children in something other than the usual sports and arts classes, private organizations in the south offer a host of alternatives such as camping trips and life-skills training this summer.

Most of the trips and courses take place at military schools or in provinces like Dong Nai and Kien Giang, where the children, mainly between 13 and 19 years old from high-income families, can learn and play outdoors.

Each trip, often lasting between three and 10 days, costs around VND1 million (US$56.21) per child.

VietNamNet/TN