Consulting on the implementation of the task of universalizing preschool education for preschool children

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Chi, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education Dinh Cong Sy co-chaired the workshop.

Attending the workshop were leaders of units under the Ministry of Education and Training, leaders of the Department of Education and Training, Departments of Education and Training and preschool education institutions.

Addressing three major policy groups for preschool education

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Chi shared with localities about the hardships that educational institutions, teachers, students, and families of preschool students had just experienced due to Typhoon Yagi and hoped that localities would continue to make efforts to overcome the consequences, quickly stabilize to organize teaching and learning, and complete the framework of tasks for the 2024-2025 school year.

The Deputy Minister emphasized that recently, the task of universalizing preschool education for children aged 3 to 5 has been mentioned, clearly stated, and thoroughly implemented in Resolution No. 42 of the Party Central Committee, Resolution No. 68 of the Government, and most recently, Conclusion No. 91 of the Politburo . This affirms that the Party, State, and Government are very interested in implementing this task.

Up to this point, preschool education has been universalized for 5-year-old children since 2010. Since then, creating a basic foundation, steps, experiences along with the mobilization and participation of ministries, departments, branches, and active direction of implementation in localities have brought about changes and developments for preschool education in terms of management, direction, network and scale.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Chi delivered a keynote speech at the workshop.

“However, we need to focus and pay more attention to meet the needs and practical demands, and more importantly, we must do our best to develop the young generation of the country. If education is like a house, then preschool is the foundation. Therefore, we need to focus and prioritize building a solid foundation,” said the Deputy Minister.

Regarding the task of developing the National Assembly's Resolution on universalizing preschool education for preschool children from 3 to 5 years old, the Deputy Minister said that although there has been active preparation, the most important thing is to advise and develop the Resolution so that after it is put into practice, localities can advise and issue many policies, propose solutions, and create resources to innovate preschool education.

In the report assessing the impact of the policy on the development of the National Assembly Resolution on universalizing preschool education for preschool children from 3 to 5 years old, Director of the Department of Preschool Education, Ministry of Education and Training Nguyen Ba Minh said: Every year, over 5.1 million preschool children are nurtured, cared for and educated at 15,256 preschools and 17,444 independent preschool education facilities; the rate of mobilizing children for nursery schools is 34.6%, the rate of mobilizing preschool children is 93.6%.

Preschool education has gradually overcome difficulties, developed quite comprehensively in terms of scale, network of schools, conditions for child care and education; the quality of child care and education has been improved; children in mountainous areas and ethnic minorities have been prepared in Vietnamese and supported with lunch, so the rate of attending class is higher, ensuring attendance; 5-year-old preschool children have been well prepared to enter first grade; the implementation of equity in education has been gradually ensured.

Director of the Department of Preschool Education, Ministry of Education and Training Nguyen Ba Minh reported at the workshop.

In particular, the successful implementation of the basic objectives of the Project on universalizing preschool education for 5-year-old children has contributed to increasing the rate of children attending school/class; attracting a large resource to invest in facilities according to the requirements of solidification and standardization to serve the care and education of children in localities. The results of universalizing preschool education for 5-year-old children have had a positive effect on the development of 5-year-old children, while creating peace of mind and trust of parents and the community in preschool education.

However, preschool education still faces many difficulties and major challenges. There is still a large number of preschool children from 3 to 4 years old who have not had access to preschool education, creating inequality in access to education. Currently, there are nearly 300,000 preschool children who have not been to school, concentrated in difficult and especially difficult areas, highlands, mountainous areas, border areas, islands, and areas with many ethnic minorities.

Besides, the conditions to ensure quality, socialization, and diversification of preschool types are still limited, leading to the burden still being placed on public preschools.

The development of the National Assembly Resolution on universalizing preschool education for preschool children aged 3-5 aims to ensure the implementation of the Party's policies and guidelines on socio-economic development and the Government's direction on universalizing preschool education nationwide. Building a legal corridor to mobilize investment resources to ensure conditions for universalizing preschool education. Ensuring preschool children have access to quality preschool education; being well prepared physically, intellectually, emotionally, aesthetically, linguistically and psychologically to be ready for school, ensuring quality for entering first grade, contributing to the implementation of children's rights.

Deputy Director of Bac Giang Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Them spoke at the workshop.

The Resolution will focus on addressing three groups of policies: Completing preferential policies for preschool children of universal age, ensuring the proportion of preschool-age children mobilized to preschool education facilities to be nurtured, cared for and educated according to the Preschool Education Program; policies to attract staff, incentives for preschool managers, teachers and staff to implement universal preschool education; investing in developing the network of preschool schools and classes, supplementing mechanisms and policies to develop the network of schools and classes to meet the schooling needs of preschool children.

Focus resources to implement effective policies

At the workshop, representatives of ministries, branches, Departments of Education and Training, Education and Training Offices, and preschool education institutions focused on exchanging, giving opinions, suggestions, and comments to build and perfect the draft Resolution.

Agreeing with the policy and task of universalizing preschool education for children aged 3 to 5, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Bac Giang, Nguyen Van Them, emphasized the suitability and necessity of the Resolution in response to practical requirements. The Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Bac Giang suggested that the drafting committee should specify more clearly the standards of the levels of achievement and have consistency and synchronization between documents; it is necessary to add preschool children who are beneficiaries of policies for children of workers in industrial parks.

As a locality with many difficulties, Dak Lak province currently has 237 kindergartens, 3,269 kindergarten classrooms, including 28 temporary borrowed classrooms and 25 temporary classrooms. According to Deputy Head of the Department of Primary Education - Preschool Education, Dak Lak Department of Education and Training Vo Thi Phuong, there should be specific mechanisms for disadvantaged areas because the target of mobilizing children to attend classes in these localities is very difficult. In addition, there should be policies to attract and recruit committed kindergarten teachers to create conditions for changing preschool education in disadvantaged localities.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education Dinh Cong Sy speaks at the workshop

Nguyen Ngoc, Deputy Head of the Department of Primary Education - Preschool Education, Lang Son Department of Education and Training, said: Despite many difficulties, Lang Son is determined to implement universal preschool education for children aged 3 to 5. Currently, the rate of mobilizing children to attend classes in the area is nearly 99%. In order to overcome the difficulties, the provincial Department of Education has implemented synchronous solutions to ensure universal preschool education in the area.

Emphasizing the factors of assurance, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education Dinh Cong Sy said that human resources and facilities play an important role in the implementation process in localities. Therefore, it is necessary to focus resources and ensure factors so that when promulgated, policies are implemented successfully and effectively. Mr. Dinh Cong Sy said that at the upcoming 8th Session, the draft Law on Teachers will be submitted to the National Assembly for discussion and comments for the first time; it is expected to be approved by the end of 2025. Since then, many policies on preschool teachers have also been adjusted positively.

Acknowledging, respecting and appreciating the opinions exchanged at the workshop, Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Chi affirmed: Universalizing preschool education for children aged 3 to 5 is not only an important political task but also the responsibility of the whole society for preschool education, the future of the country. The Deputy Minister requested the Drafting Committee to record, synthesize the opinions and absorb and make appropriate adjustments to complete the draft Resolution before submitting it to the Government in the near future.

Source: https://moet.gov.vn/tintuc/Pages/tin-tong-hop.aspx?ItemID=9886