LookAtVietnam – It is becoming difficult to obtain a spot in state-owned nursery schools.

It is becoming difficult to obtain a spot in state-owned nursery schools. Many schools have announced that they have reached capacity and will accept no more pupils.

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HCM City lacking nursery schools

It is becoming difficult to obtain a spot in state-owned nursery schools

The HCM City Education and Training Department said nursery schools would announce their enrolment plan by June 15. However, many schools were already at their maximum level of enrollment by then.

“On June 14, I went to Hong Nhung Nursery School to enroll in the school for my son, but I was told that there were no more seats for 3-year-old children. Then I went to some nearby private schools, but all the schools said they could not accept any more pupils,” Le Phuong Linh, 40, who lives in Go Vap District, said.

“The number of seats in nursery schools is really scarce,” she complained.

Many other parents in Go Vap District are now like cats on hot bricks, as they are uncertain if their children can be accepted to Thuy Tien Nursery School or not. They have been told the school would prioritize accepting 5-year-olds, and it will consider enrolling 3-year-old children only after meeting all the demand of 5-year-old children.

Thu Tam, an area parent, said she would have to send her child to a private school, though the tuition there is higher than in state-owned schools.

“I have to register a seat at a private school right now, or even private schools will have no more seats in a couple of weeks,” she said.

According to Nguyen Thi Ngoc Loi, Headmaster of Hong Nhung Nursery School in Go Vap district, the school will not accept more children aged 3-4, because those classes are full. Loi said the school will only receive children aged five or less than three.

At 7.30 am June 14, many parents were seen flocking to Binh Trung Dong Nursery School in District 2 to register their children for vacation courses. C. Thanh, who lives in Binh Trung Tay ward, filled out an application for vacation courses and said while waiting, “You should register right now. The number of seats is limited. I went to Sen Hong Nursery School before I got there and I was told that there are no more seats at Sen Hong.”

Dao Thi Kim Phung, Headmaster of Sen Hong Nursery School, confirmed that classes for 3-4 year old children are full, while the school is prioritizing receiving children younger than three-years-old.

Meanwhile, Ton Nu Kim Anh, Headmaster of Ben Thanh Nursery School, said that the school is considering not enrolling any new pupils this year, except 90 children aged less than three. She added that all the classes of the school have more than 60 pupils for each class already.

The situation seems to be more serious in Tan Phu District. Tran Thi Tri, Deputy Head of the Tan Phu Education sub-department, said Tan Phu only has 10 nursery schools which cannot meet all the demand of the local residents.

As state-owned schools fill up, parents have to bring their children to private schools or household-run nursery classes. There are 13 private schools and 1097 household-run nursery classes in the district.

According to Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh, MA, Head of the Pre-school Education Division under the HCM City Education and Training Department, in the last years, private run schools and household-run classes received nearly 50 percent of the total children in the city.

Source: Tuoi tre