LookAtVietnam – State-owned nursery schools in HCM City will be able to receive 35-60 percent of the city’s total children for the 2010-2011 school year.

It is estimated that state-owned nursery schools in HCM City will be able to receive 35-60 percent of the city’s total children for the 2010-2011 school year.

Nursery school teachers struggling to live

Many nursery schools will open until the day before Tet

Problems with private pre-schools

Though the city has been warned about its lack of nursery schools, HCM City has too few schools. Fifteen wards and communes in nine districts in HCM City still do not have nursery schools.

Tardiness in building schools has forced existing schools to receive too many children, so class enrollments are very high.

According to Luu Van Thanh, Head of the Education Sub-Department in District 4, there are some 7200 children aged 18 months and up who attend state-owned schools, private schools and private-run classes.

The fifteen state-owned schools in the district have 4500 children, or 62 percent of the total. At small schools, there are 32 children in every class, while at bigger schools, every class has 52-53 children with only two teachers and one baby-minder.

In Thu Duc district, state-owned schools receive 7000 out of 14000 children aged 12 months and up. At big schools with good material facilities, every class has 55 children.

Meanwhile, in Tan Phu district, the 10 state-owned schools provide seats for 4600 children out of 15000 children aged 19 months and higher. Every class has at least 50 children.

According to Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh, Head of the Pre-School Education Division of HCM City Education and Training Department, the city now has over 250,000 children going to nursery schools. Of this amount, 55 percent are at state-owned schools. The actual number of children per class has exceeded the allowed ratio of two square metres per one child.

Since state-owned schools cannot meet the demand, private schools charge high tuitions and yet still have 60 children per class. Many families have turned to household-run classes.

Tran Thi Tri, Deputy Head of the Tan Phu district’s Education Sub-Department, estimated that there are 106 household-run classes with a total of 7100 children.

In the whole city, 50,000 children are going to 859 household-run classes. In general, the classes have too many children and they cannot meet safety requirements.

The HCM City Education and Training Department has ordered districts to reorganize household-run classes with more than 60 children, but the changes are very difficult to make.

Tri explained that most teachers in household-run classes have only short-term training certificates, therefore, household-run classes could not be upgraded into schools. Meanwhile, if the city closes the household-run classes, where should parents bring their children?

Nguyen Tien Dat, Deputy Director of HCM City Education and Training Department, argued that it is necessary to speed up construction of nursery schools. Besides, the city needs to work with industrial zones and export processing zones to build schools for workers’ children.

Source: Nguoi lao dong