LookAtVietnam – Educators have expressed concerns that the program will be undermined by the lack of schools and educators. VietNamNet Bridge – Attendees of the conference on pre-school education universalization for 5-year old children on July 11 expressed concerns that the program will be undermined by the lack of schools and educators.

A Cao Bang representative spoke up at the conference, noting that, “to keep pace with education universalization”, the province must build nearly 1000 classrooms within four years, or 200 new classrooms a year.

Cao Bang is well known for having 125 communes without nursery schools and kindergartens.

Other provincial delegates concurred. Some estimated that, even if they have enough money, they must race against time to implement the program.

Dak Lak province, for instance, reported 300 villages without nursery schools and 31 communes with no independent nursery schools. Only 20 percent of operational schools are “solid” and, to meet the pre-school education universalization program, the province must construct at least 858 more classrooms.

According to Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Education and Training Department, some wards in Hanoi have 2-3 nursery schools, but their facilities are lacking. There is no land fund in the inner city for building more classrooms, while in the suburbs, there are still over 1000 temporary classrooms.

Without enough classrooms, some attendees agreed that it would be impossible to shorten the program’s schedule.

Additionally, when the plan was created, the estimated expenses for building one classroom were 100 million dong, but now the figure stands at 380 million dong.

Authorities have also expressed concern about the lack of teachers. Even Hanoi, a city with developed socio-economic conditions that can easily attract instructors, anticipates falling short of the program requirements by 3000 teachers.

Some representatives claimed that, to implement the program, less attention will paid to 3-4 year old children. For the 2010-2011 school year, many state-owned schools turned down 3-4 year old children to reserve seats for five year old’s..

Professor Tran Xuan Nhi, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Study Encouragement Society, stressed that, when implementing the program for five year old children, schools must not “ignore” the younger ones. Nhi explained that it is necessary to develop different types of nursery schools and household-run classes and suggested that authorities need to reserve their land fund to develop schools and consider educational demands for all ages.

Source: Tuoi tre