As the opening of the new school year nears, the thing of chief interest to fathers and mothers who work at state agencies and enterprises is how to find someone who can take their children to and from school.

As the opening of the new school year nears, the thing of chief interest to fathers and mothers who work at state agencies and enterprises is now not how to get seats at good schools for their children, but how to find someone who can take their children to and from school.

Currently, in Hanoi, only international schools and non-state schools provide transportation.

Nguyen Phu Chien, President of Vietnam-Australia International School, said that parents just need to register for the service and give their addresses, and the school bus will bring their students to school. Of course, the service fee is relatively high, at $60-85 per month.

Hanoi now has some ten kindergartens, primary schools run by Viet Kieu or foreign institutions which collect high tuition fees from students. However, a lot of Vietnamese parents still have decided to send their children to these schools, partially because the schools offer buses to take children to classes.

Vietnamese-owned non-state schools, namely Doan Thi Diem, Le Quy Don, Nguyen Sieu and Lomonosov, have also been chosen by many parents as they have school buses. According to Nguyen Thi Hien, President of Doan Thi Diem School, buses bring students to school on 25 routes.

Nguyen Sieu School offers two options. Students either go to school on the buses running on fixed routes, for which they have to pay 400-580,000 dong per month, or get picked up at their door, for which they have to pay $60-80 per month. Meanwhile, students of Lomonosov School have to pay 300,000 a month for fixed routes.

Meanwhile, parents in Bac Linh Dam urban area in Hanoi have the ‘option’ of renting a bus to take their children to Dai Kim Primary School. A father in the area said that this is really a good solution because parents can share the expenses.

A group of parents of students from Kim Lien Primary School have hired a female taxi driver to take their girls to school. The parents said that they feel safer when hiring a female taxi driver as women are always more careful driving cars.

Taxi motorbike service is also the choice of many parents. Nguyen Huu Liem, a service provider, said that he has teamed up with some colleagues to provide the service. Each of the team’s members is in charge of taking two or three students to school. The service fee is very soft, at 15,000 dong for 3.5 kilometres.

Hoai Anh on Hai Ba Trung street is now running an establishment which takes children to and from school. He is also providing the service of taking children to the park, to play sports or have meals.

VietNamNet/TT