Vietnam faces many obstacles in meeting pre-school children enrollment goals by 2015. It lacks a sufficient number of classrooms as well as teachers. Government figures show that of the “149,000 nursery classrooms nationwide, only fifty percent can meet the standards in material facilities, while the others are made of bamboo or in very poor conditions.” Pre-school conditions, varying by regions, affect the quality of care and education.
Government standards limiting classrooms to 35 children were expanded to allow 60 students per class in Hanoi nursery schools due to overcrowding and demand. In the last three years, the government recruited approximately 31,000 teachers for nursery schools. Local governments are required to finance any additional teacher salaries and school expenses from their limited budget. There were 1300 semi-owned state schools that were transformed into state owned schools on the local state budget. Teachers accuse schools of Labor Code non-compliance, citing lack of periodic promotions, low wages and overtime work hours. Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Nyguyen Vinh Hien reported that “a high percentage of nursery school teachers now work under short term labor contracts.”
The Project of Universalizing Pre-school Education for Five-Year-Old Children was passed by the Vietnamese Prime Minister in the year 2010. The project sets the overall goal of enrolling 5-year-old children throughout Vietnam in two classes a day for a full school year in order to prepare them the first year of grade school.
According to a report by The Early Childhood Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, 298 out of 698 districts are under the universal preschool education plan in 63 cities and provinces. The government has made an investment of VND 14,660 billion (US$6.95 million) to build 11,600 classrooms equipped with toys, educational equipment, and trained teachers, in 86 national-standard pre-schools in disadvantaged lower income districts nationwide. However, the project, with a total estimated cost of VND480 trillion (US$22.8 billion), is in jeopardy due to “a shortage of funds.”
Currently, the number of pre-schoolers is 4 million. There was an increase of 278,247 students from 2012. A Vietnam Education Ministry report identified approximately 13,000 kindergartens with a need for 400 more classrooms. Recently, the Minister of Education and Training admitted before the National Assembly that, in the past, pre-school education received less attention than general education, a fact which, resulted in the current lack of teachers and classrooms.
The success of the Vietnam’s Project of Universalizing Pre-school Education for Five-Year-Old Children will depend on the government’s ability to meet current and future needs.
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