Conditions for establishing kindergartens according to the latest regulations of the Government

Nam Sai Gon Kindergarten (public school, under the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City), meets national standards level 2 andeducational quality assessment level 3

On October 5, 2024, the Government issued Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP regulating conditions for investment and operation in the education sector. This Decree replaces Decree No. 46/2017/ND-CP dated April 21, 2024 of the Government regulating conditions for investment and operation in the education and training sector (amended and supplemented by Decree No. 135/2018/ND-CP dated October 4, 2018).

What's New

Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP has some new contents, fundamentally changing compared to Decree No. 46/2017/ND-CP and Decree No. 135/2018/ND-CP. For preschools and general education institutions:

• Regarding the conditions for establishing preschools and general education facilities, the decree has revised these conditions in the direction that the school establishment project must be "consistent with the provincial planning and relevant local planning" to comply with the provisions of the Planning Law.
  
• Regarding the conditions for preschool and general education institutions to conduct educational activities, the decree stipulates the basic conditions for land, facilities, equipment; educational programs; teaching staff, and management staff. Specific standards and requirements of a professional and technical nature will be implemented according to specialized documents in the field of education. The regulations are intended to comply with the authority to prescribe standards and norms for school facilities and equipment, educational programs, teaching and learning materials, and teaching staff and management staff in Article 104 of the Law on Education. At the same time, it is intended to ensure flexibility in case of needing to adjust standards on facilities, equipment, teachers, management staff, etc. to suit the changes, supplements, and adjustments to educational programs according to the requirements of socio -economic development.
  

Children of a private independent preschool in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City

The school construction land area can be replaced by the construction floor area.

Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP adds the regulation: "For inner-city areas of special-class urban areas, the school construction land area can be replaced by the construction floor area and must ensure that the construction floor area is not lower than the minimum average land area for one child/student as prescribed".

The reason for this adjustment is that in new urban areas, densely populated areas are experiencing school overload, while the land area for building educational facilities in these areas is increasingly limited. Therefore, this additional regulation aims to partly overcome these limitations in urban areas with high population density, especially Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Regulations on investment capital levels for private kindergartens and primary schools to operate educational activities

To ensure the principle of the State treating investors equally, without discriminating between domestic and foreign investors, Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP stipulates that the investment capital for domestic preschool and general education institutions to operate is similar to the capital level for foreign-invested preschool and general education institutions to operate.

The specific regulation on the capital level to ensure school operations aims to ensure that educational institutions have sufficient financial resources to organize educational activities as well as maintain and develop school operations; is one of the important factors contributing to ensuring and improving the quality of preschool and general education; and enhancing the role and responsibility of investors when operating in the field of education.

Regarding the regulations on investment capital for private kindergartens and general schools to operate educational activities, the regulations are as follows: "At least 30 million VND/child (excluding land use costs)..." for kindergartens and "at least 50 million VND/student (excluding land use costs)..." for general schools; in addition, in the case of private schools that do not build new facilities but only rent or use existing facilities to carry out educational activities, the investment level must reach at least 70% of the prescribed investment level.

Children of Hoa Hong Kindergarten, District 7 play with their teacher

Procedures for establishing public kindergartens or permitting the establishment of private kindergartens

The procedure is specified in Article 4, Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the district, city, town under the province decides to establish a public kindergarten or permit the establishment of a private kindergarten.

The dossier includes: Proposal to establish or permit the establishment of a kindergarten; Project to establish or permit the establishment of a kindergarten.

Implementation sequence:

1. The People's Committee of the commune, ward or town (if requesting to establish a public kindergarten); organizations and individuals (if requesting permission to establish a non-public or private kindergarten) shall submit 1 set of documents specified in Clause 2 of this Article via the online public service portal or by post or directly to the People's Committee at the district level;
   
2. Within 5 working days from the date of receiving the complete dossier, if the dossier is invalid, the district-level People's Committee shall notify in writing the contents that need to be revised to the agency, organization or individual requesting to establish or permit the establishment of a kindergarten; if the dossier is valid, the district-level People's Committee shall direct the Department of Education and Training to organize the appraisal of the conditions for establishing or permitting the establishment of a kindergarten;
   
3. Within 15 days from the date of receiving the direction of the district-level People's Committee, the Department of Education and Training shall preside over and coordinate with relevant professional departments to appraise the conditions for establishing or permitting the establishment of a kindergarten in the dossier, prepare an appraisal report to assess the situation of meeting the provisions in Article 3 of this Decree; submit to the Chairman of the district-level People's Committee for consideration and decision;
   
4. Within 5 working days from the date of receipt of the appraisal report of the Department of Education and Training, if the conditions are met, the Chairman of the District People's Committee shall decide to establish or permit the establishment of a kindergarten; if the conditions are not met, a written notice shall be sent to the agency, organization or individual requesting the establishment or permitting the establishment of a kindergarten, stating the reasons.
   
5. The decision to establish or permit the establishment of a kindergarten (according to form 10 of Appendix 1 attached to this Decree) shall be made public in the mass media.
   

Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP clearly states: After 2 years from the effective date of the decision to establish or permit the establishment of a kindergarten, if the kindergarten is not allowed to operate educational activities, the Department of Education and Training shall report to the Chairman of the District People's Committee to revoke the decision to establish or the decision to permit the establishment of the school.

In case a kindergarten changes its educational location, it must meet the conditions and carry out the procedures for establishing or permitting the establishment of a kindergarten, permitting the kindergarten to conduct educational activities as prescribed in this Decree. In the project (according to form No. 02, Appendix 1 attached to this Decree), the kindergarten must commit to inheriting the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the kindergarten requesting to change its location.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dieu-kien-thanh-lap-truong-mam-non-theo-quy-dinh-moi-nhat-cua-chinh-phu-185241012112122852.htm