Early standardization of private nursery groups

Checking private nursery groups in Da Nang city

Pursuant to Circular 49-2021/TT-BGDDT dated December 31, 2021 of the Ministry of Education and Training on promulgating regulations on organization and operation of independent nursery groups, independent kindergarten classes, independent preschool classes of public and private types (referred to as Circular 49), the Department of Education and Training of Da Nang City has directed districts, education sectors, and People's Committees of wards to inspect non-public preschools, independent and private nursery groups...

Parents' concerns

Da Nang currently has 731 private child care groups; of which 507 groups have more than 7 children and 224 groups have up to 7 children. The common feature of private independent child care groups is that they mainly take care of children of low-income workers, with unstable jobs and hours...

There is no denying the timely response of private daycare centers, but in reality, many cases of abuse have occurred in these models, leaving serious aftershocks and hindering children's development. For example, at the end of 2022, in Hoa An and Hoa Xuan wards (Cam Le district, Da Nang city), two private independent classes were accused of child abuse and starvation. Recently, in early April, in Hoa Hiep Nam ward, Lien Chieu district, another incident occurred in which a 2-year-old child died while being sent to the Little Sun nursery.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lich, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Lien Chieu District, said that after the incident, the District People's Committee conducted a review and inspection of the remaining groups of children. The results showed that some groups and classes did not ensure the conditions of equipment, tools for food preparation and processing, sample storage, and 3-step verification that did not comply with regulations on food hygiene and safety; did not store daily grocery shopping vouchers; children had to live with the host family... "The entire district has 141 private groups and classes. After the review, if any group does not meet the conditions according to Circular 49, it will not be licensed and will not be allowed to operate; groups with less than 7 children will not be granted new licenses; parents are encouraged to send their children to public and non-public preschools for better and safer care," said Mr. Lich.

Similarly, in Son Tra district, there are currently about 100 independent and private childcare groups. The authorities are also focusing on reviewing and checking the activities of these groups to ensure compliance with Circular 49. From there, the district's Department of Education and Training will continue to assess them again to have a direction for managing these childcare groups.

Mr. Vo Trung Minh, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Son Tra District admitted: “It can be said that sending children to private independent childcare groups is the choice of a part of the people because it is suitable for economic conditions and circumstances. The problem is that it is necessary to increase support, manage and closely monitor the activities of childcare groups; coordinate with sectors, localities, organizations and parents to ensure safety as well as the best care for children”.

A private nursery group in Da Nang city

Cannot be erased but must be overcome

Chief of Office in charge of the Association for Charity and Protection of Children's Rights in Da Nang City, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tu analyzed: "In fact, the demand for these private child care groups is very high. If we compare, we will see that both have advantages and disadvantages. For example, a public school child care group with a few hundred children will be difficult to monitor and will have fewer conditions for care. A private school child care group has only a few dozen children, is small in scale, so it is easy to check, and if there are any violations, they will be detected quickly. The outstanding advantage of the public school group is that the facilities are complete, the teachers are well-qualified, standardized, and the playing environment is better, but the pick-up and drop-off time is limited, and it is not as flexible as a private child care group. In reality, when parents are workers who have to work overtime, only a private child care group nanny can meet the demand. Another model is spontaneous child care, which means that one person stays at home to look after their children and grandchildren and takes care of a few more children from the neighborhood... This model meets the child care needs of families and parents. But it should be limited because the caregivers are not professionally trained, the facilities and nutrition are not guaranteed, and only meet the initial safety level.

However, Mr. Tu said that basically, public and private kindergartens still have to coexist in current living conditions, it is impossible to eliminate one of the two but must accept and find ways to overcome disadvantages, improve the quality of activities. Regarding solutions, private kindergartens should be standardized to encourage, such as investing in facilities, purchasing toys, equipment, environmental sanitation, food safety, thereby both reducing pressure on public schools and improving quality...

“Over the years, the City's Charity and Children's Rights Protection Association has paid special attention to this group of children. The Association has coordinated with the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to conduct regular inspections and direct facilities to regularly monitor according to their functional tasks. Regularly organize training courses for nannies and caregivers, creating conditions for child care groups to operate according to standards. In addition, the awareness and responsibility of the people have also been increasingly raised, which has greatly contributed to the detection of cases of abuse so that the authorities can quickly intervene. In the coming time, the Association will continue to coordinate to establish a specialized monitoring team, thereby pointing out the limitations and shortcomings of each facility, while supporting groups of children in difficult circumstances," Mr. Nguyen Anh Tu added.

Ms. Dang Thi Cam Tu, Head of the Preschool Education Department of the Department of Education and Training of Da Nang City, informed that from the beginning of the school year, the Department issued Official Dispatch No. 2361/SGDĐT-GDMN dated September 9, 2022 on enhancing the sense of responsibility for ensuring physical and mental safety for children in preschools; this content is consistent throughout the school year. At the same time, according to the management decentralization of independent child care facilities, the People's Committees of communes and wards are responsible for managing and licensing the establishment. Therefore, the Department also advised the City People's Committee to issue Official Dispatch No. 5565/UBND-SGDĐT dated October 11, 2022 on strengthening the management of preschools in the area; focusing on directing districts and towns to manage the activities of independent and private facilities; Assign the Department of Education and Training to coordinate with the People's Committees of districts and related organizations, departments, and branches... to organize inspections and checks (regularly and suddenly) of the activities of non-public preschools.

MINH CHAU

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