There are growing public doubts about the
Ministry of Education and Training’s new draft decree stipulating that there
should be no more than 35 children in each public kindergarten classroom.

Six-year-olds learn to draw at a kindergarten in the southern coastal city of Vung Tau. A decree drafted by the Ministry of Education and Training that aims to limit classroom sizes to 35 is said to be unfeasible. (Photo: VNS)

Many people say the
plan is unpractical and unfeasible, especially as students at schools are often
divided into different age groups that share the one classroom.

While classrooms
often have several teachers, the draft decree, which was released early this
week, stipulates there will be no more than between 25 and 35 children aged
between three and six years old in each classroom.

The decree also
stipulates that day-care centres must ensure each carer looking after children
under one year of age has no more than four children to look after. Previously
each carer could look after up to 15 children.

For children aged two
to three years of age, each carer should have no more than 25 children to look
after.

Apart from the
required number of teachers and carers at kindergartens and day-care centres,
the decree also regulates that one additional teacher was needed for four or
more disabled children at public nursery schools.

The regulations aim
to gradually ease the serious overload of pupils at pre-schools in major cities
across the country, while also improving the quality of teaching.

However, the
regulations have been criticised as being too difficult to reach.

Nguyen Thu Hang,
mother of a three-year-old student enrolled at Ba Dinh A Public Nursery School
in Ha Noi, said there were more than 50 children in her child’s classroom and
only three teachers to take care of them.

“Only private
pre-schools can ensure no more than 35 students in each classroom,” said Hang.
“Public schools may have more than 50 students in a class and the better a
school’s reputation, the more crowded the classes.”

Principal of Tuoi Hoa
Public Nursery School Nguyen Thai Thuan said many students would be left with no
place to go if schools were forced to limit class sizes.

“Parents do not have
many choices,” said Thuan. “Few feel secure about sending their children to
small private child care centres, as the larger private child care centres that
offer peace of mind are a lot more expensive.

“Not many parents can
afford the VND2-3 million (US$95-142) in fees charged each month at good private
schools.”

School
representatives also said the municipal Department of Education and Training’s
new regulation, which encouraged all children to enrol at pre-schools before
starting primary school, would put nursery schools under pressure to receive
more students and make classrooms even more crowded.

Statistics from Ha
Noi Department of Education and Training shows that there are 667 State-owned
pre-schools and 160 privately-operated schools. State-supported schools are
reported to have an average of 50 to 60 students in each class.

Many parents have to
queue up all night for a chance to register their children at one of these
schools, which are often larger and better equipped, as well as less expensive
than private schools.

Hoang Thi Kim Thuy,
senior official from the ministry who is in charge of collecting feedback on the
issue, admitted the target might be hard to achieve.

“But the ministry
will collect feedback from the public on the issue during the next two months
and adjust the regulations if necessary,” said Thuy.

Earlier, Deputy Prime
Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan called on the Ministry of Education and Training to
complete proposals on construction and upgrades of schools and teacher-training
facilities that used official development assistance.

The nation aims to
spend more than VND14.6 trillion (US$736 million) on developing education
facilities for five-year-olds during the 2010-11 period.

The programme, which
will be submitted to the Government for approval, includes the construction of
new schools and classrooms, purchase of study and teaching aids, training of
teachers and support for poor students.

Also under the
programme, 86 new kindergartens meeting national standards will be built in 62
poor districts, of which 24 are in six mountainous provinces bordering the
Central Highlands.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News