Various types of summer camps - Parents should pay attention to choosing the right one for their children

Activities outside of home and school are an indispensable part of a child’s development. However, ensuring the physical and mental safety of children when participating in these activities is something that needs to be taken into consideration.

Members of the "Vietnam Summer Camp 2022" visit the Quang Nam Provincial Museum. Illustrative photo: Trinh Bang Nhiem/VNA

Diverse summer camp formats

For the past few years, every summer, many parents have been scrambling to find summer camps for their children. This is not a compulsory curriculum but is a form that many parents prefer and choose during the summer vacation. Summer camp programs can be organized from a few days, a few weeks or a month with diverse content and forms to help children have the opportunity to develop comprehensively in terms of knowledge, life skills, thinking, teamwork, etc. Depending on the needs of children and families, many summer camp models are organized such as English summer camps; military, police, firefighting summer camps; summer camps for career experience, art, science and technology; semi-boarding and boarding summer camps; summer training courses, etc.

English Summer Camp is a form chosen by many parents with the desire to help their children have a place to interact and practice English. Normally, English summer camps will spend 60% of their time on language training activities for children. Combined with that are sports activities, club activities, sightseeing, exploring, learning to play instruments, learning to draw... English summer camps are often designed into weekly packages or courses (30 days). The cost for each package or course ranges from 3-10 million VND. If combined with a trip abroad, the cost can be up to tens of millions per week; international bilingual camps even cost up to 100 million for a 5-6 day course...

In addition to English summer camps, sports summer camps are also a popular form, suitable for families who want to help their children develop their sports talents and improve their health. At sports summer camps, children are trained in sports such as swimming, volleyball, soccer, basketball under the guidance of professional coaches... At the end of the summer camp, children will have the opportunity to participate in internal tournaments, to enhance team spirit and practice solid competitive skills.

For families who want to develop their children's artistic talents, art summer camps with various forms meet the needs. Depending on their talents and interests, children can choose to learn musical instruments such as piano, guitar, violin... or draw, create works of art combined with organizing visits to museums, art galleries, and exciting team building activities. Through the programs, children are stimulated in their imagination, creativity and explore their own potential.

In addition to the above forms, many families want to train their children in physical strength, perseverance, discipline, understanding of the military environment, teamwork skills... From that need, models of Military Semester, Firefighter Summer Camp... were born.

The military semester was first organized in Vietnam in 2008 by the Southern Youth Center (SYC) - a unit under the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, and was piloted for 84 students at the 88th Infantry Regiment, Division 302, Military Region 7. The program has created a great resonance in society for its method of teaching skills, ethics, and lifestyle combined with military education. Mr. Nguyen Minh Khanh, Director of the Southern Youth Center, said that from successful trials, this model was replicated by the Central Committee of the Youth Union to provinces and cities to create a playground for experience and training for young people.

The Southern Youth Center is the only unit in Vietnam that has continuously organized the Military Semester since 2008 with students from many provinces and cities across the country. Military Semester classes are organized in many units of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Armored Forces, Border Guard, Special Forces, etc.

According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Khanh, most parents choose the Military Semester with the hope that their children will stay away from electronic devices and have a special environment to practice. Every year, the Southern Youth Center organizes about 5 Military Semester and always recruits enough students. This year, the number of programs has increased to 6 due to the great demand of society. Each program lasts 8-10 days, with 120 students, tuition fees from 5-6 million VND. The strictness of the military environment is expected to create in children a steadfast spirit, strong will, courage to face difficulties, take responsibility for all daily activities, no longer rely on parents, and integrate into a cohesive collective life.

Summer camps must be educational and safe.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga, Deputy Director of the Department of Children (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs), extracurricular programs are very good, but ensuring children's rights when participating in these programs still has some limitations and shortcomings. When the Department of Children surveyed a number of military summer camp programs, retreats, etc., the authorities found problems with facilities, programs and behaviors that did not ensure children's safety, privacy and participation rights.

At the end of December 2022, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs issued Circular 27/2022/TT-BLDTBXH on guidelines for children's participation in activities outside the family and outside educational institutions to promptly guide agencies, organizations, units, individuals and families on children's participation to help ensure children's rights, ensure a safe, healthy, friendly, equal, non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing environment.

Deputy Director of the Department of Children Nguyen Thi Nga recommends that parents and family members, before registering their children for courses and extracurricular activities, need to carefully study the program and content to see if it is suitable for their children's wishes, abilities, and interests; find out if the children's accommodation is suitable for their gender, age, or level of disability. Children have the right to express their opinions and wishes when participating in activities outside the family or educational institutions. In particular, children have the right to cancel their participation if they feel that the activities outside the family or educational institutions do not meet or are not suitable for their needs and wishes compared to the time they learned about them or before participating. Parents and caregivers are responsible for respecting children's opinions and wishes.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga said that to ensure the physical and mental safety of children, Circular 27/2022/TT-BLDTBXH clearly stipulates that agencies, organizations, businesses organizing activities and service providers are responsible for organizing health check-ups and regular health monitoring to ensure that children are healthy enough to participate in the activities of the course. Units must fully inform children, parents, and caregivers of the program, time, duration, location, subjects, facilities, etc. to organize activities before children participate in the activities; publicly and transparently disclose the financial contributions of parents and the expenses that children receive. At the same time, relevant parties must ensure child protection, prevention of child abuse, accidents, injuries, fire and explosion prevention and control, and epidemic prevention according to regulations; promptly notify the People's Committee of the commune where the activities are organized when incidents occur.

Instructors, coordinators, collaborators, and members of the Organizing Committee must have never committed acts of child abuse and must commit to not committing acts of child abuse. Those who directly instruct children in courses must have skills and methods appropriate to the psychological development of children of their age.

To choose the right summer camp for their children, parents can join online forums to search for information. If possible, parents should visit the summer camp in advance and talk to people who have participated to get accurate and necessary information, thereby evaluating the feasibility and quality of the summer camp.

According to education experts, letting children participate in summer camps and extracurricular activities is good, giving them the opportunity to change their living environment, separate themselves from electronic devices, learn more knowledge, new skills, and discover many interesting things. However, when choosing a summer camp for their children, parents need to research carefully to ensure safety, suitability for their children's age, interests, aspirations, and development, helping children have the best experiences while parents can rest assured about the safety and quality of the summer camp.

According to VNA

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