Good news for young families: $4.5 billion investment in preschool education

The cluster of three schools Son Ca kindergarten, Hung Vuong primary school and Mac Dinh Chi secondary school has just been invested in and built by Ho Chi Minh City to meet national standards in Tan Binh district (Ho Chi Minh City) - Photo: TU TRUNG

According to Mr. Nguyen Kim Son - Minister of Education and Training, the total budget to implement universal preschool education for children aged 3-5 in the period of 2026 - 2030 is over 116,300 billion VND to implement three policies which are also the three current "bottlenecks" of preschooleducation .

Support children, attract preschool teachers

Of which, the budget for policies for preschool-age children is 1,062 billion VND/year (including funding to support study costs and lunch money).

The Minister of Education and Training proposed to add preschool children aged 3-5 years old studying at private preschools (with conditions attached) to the policy beneficiaries. At the same time, the level of lunch support compared to current regulations for preschool children aged 3-5 years old.

Regarding policies for managers, teachers and staff, the amount of funding needed from the State to attract teachers is 2,827.6 billion VND; funding to support managers, teachers and staff to carry out universalization tasks is 3,296.8 billion VND/year.

Regarding the budget for consolidating schools, Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that 24,228 preschool classrooms will be built to replace temporary classrooms; 25,412 new classrooms will be built, functional rooms, libraries, and minimum teaching equipment will be added... with a total investment budget for facilities of VND91,872.5 billion.

The Ministry of Education and Training's leaders said that the funding source for implementing the resolution comes from the state budget according to current budget decentralization, the central budget supporting localities, socialized education capital and other legally mobilized capital sources.

So when this program is implemented, it is good news for young couples and low-income people.

Fair to children, regardless of public or private

Teachers and students at Nam Nan branch of Nam Dang School (Van Ban, Lao Cai ) - Photo: VINH HA

Discussing directly the content of the draft resolution on universal preschool education for 3-5 year olds, Mr. Nguyen Van Anh (in group 4, Dai Kim ward, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi ) said that it is very necessary to have a policy of fair treatment for children, regardless of whether they attend public or non-public schools.

"I support having a common policy for 3-5 year old preschool children, including children in private and public preschools. Because in Hanoi today, preschool places for 3-4 year old children are still a pressure. Therefore, not all parents have the conditions and need to send their children to private schools, it is only a forced situation, so if their children are "outside the policy", it is really unfair," said Mr. Anh.

He had a grandchild who had to "draw lots" to get a place in a kindergarten in Hoang Mai district two years ago. Now that the grandchild is 5 years old, he is no longer worried because he is "in the universal education category".

Regarding the proposal to add 3-5 year old children studying at private kindergartens to the list of beneficiaries of the policy according to the draft resolution, the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society in its preliminary review report stated that the current policy to support learning costs for preschool children studying at educational institutions in the national education system is in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Education and the Government's guiding decree.

Accordingly, the subjects receiving support for study costs in Decree No. 81/2021/ND-CP dated August 27, 2021 of the Government (Article 8) do not include 3-5 year old preschool children studying at private preschools whose parents or caregivers are workers or laborers in industrial parks. This is the authority of the Government, so the drafting agency should consider including this content in the draft resolution.

"I also heard about the proposal to invest in preschools to universalize education for 3-5 year olds. Our preschool is private, so the main target is 2-4 year olds, because all 5 year olds in the area go to public schools.

"So if children aged 3-4 are included in the universal education program and private schools that carry out the universal education program also enjoy some policies, especially policies to attract and recruit teachers and policies to train and support teachers professionally, we will be very happy," said Ms. Pham Thu Huong, a school owner in Nam Tu Liem district (Hanoi).

Ms. Huong said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is very difficult to recruit teachers who will commit to the profession for the long term. Every summer, as we prepare for the new school year, the concern about teacher shortage recurs.

Teachers and students of Son Ca Kindergarten, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: NHU HUNG

Need superior deals

At the recent meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the Delegation Work Committee Nguyen Thanh Hai expressed his excitement when reading the draft resolution of the National Assembly on universalizing preschool education for preschool children from 3-5 years old.

Currently, children aged 5 have been universalized, but there are still children aged 3-4 and below. With her experience as a local leader, Ms. Hai realizes that if the State pays attention to this content and issues a resolution like this, it will be very good, helping the locality a lot.

Ms. Hai also cited the draft mentioning phrases such as "priority" and "balancing large resources to develop schools", but the most important issue is to have investment sources.

She recalled that the mountainous district of Dinh Hoa in Thai Nguyen province (where she used to be the provincial party secretary) had many policies to attract investment in preschool education, but no investors participated because investment in mountainous and rural areas was not profitable.

Therefore, to have a breakthrough, in addition to the state budget, there needs to be outstanding incentives for investors in preschool education in remote, isolated and especially disadvantaged areas, and it is necessary to promote the social responsibility of large corporations, calling on them to invest non-profitably in this field.

According to Ms. Hai, the draft clearly states incentives for children aged 3-5 studying in private schools and whose parents are industrial park workers or laborers...

She proposed that if possible, industrial zones should be encouraged to have land funds and tax exemptions, and then have outstanding policies to build kindergartens for the children of these workers.

Currently, there are only housing policies for workers but no kindergartens. If this is passed, policies will be included in the priorities for building and developing industrial parks but with kindergartens in them. That is, if the private sector participates in these policy goals, they will play a very large and important role in the development and growth of the country and the economy.

Ms. Hai also suggested focusing on policies for teachers such as superior salary regimes...

Children studying at a kindergarten in Hanoi - Photo: V.HA

* Delegate NGUYEN THI VIET NGA (member of the Committee on Culture and Society):

Need to build a reasonable roadmap

I participated in the committee's survey delegation in some localities on the conditions of facilities and human resources, and voters' wishes for moving towards universalizing preschool education for children from 3 to 5 years old.

After considering many issues, it can be seen that the policy of proposing universal preschool education for 3-5 year olds at the present time is reasonable. Currently, we have only universalized preschool education for 5 year olds, and under 5 year olds have not been universalized for many different reasons. When universalizing preschool education for 3-5 year olds, the mobilization rate to attend preschool must reach 100%.

Another issue is that to implement this policy, a huge amount of funding will have to be allocated, and according to the proposal for the 2026 - 2030 period, it is more than 116,000 billion VND. In the context of many budget difficulties, allocating such a large resource to preschool children not only shows priority in resource allocation, but also reflects a new development mindset - taking early education as the foundation for building the future of the country.

But it is also necessary to build a reasonable roadmap for implementation. In that roadmap, it is necessary to determine where this starts and how to solve that roadmap for each school year... When a specific and reasonable roadmap is built, it will solve the problem of human resources for teachers as well as facilities to ensure universalization.

* Ms. Luong Thi Hong Diep (Head of Preschool Education Department, Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City):

Narrowing the urban-rural gap

If the National Assembly approves a budget investment of more than VND 116,300 billion for the preschool education sector in the 2026-2030 period, this will be a huge priority for the whole country in the context of many difficulties in the state budget. This clearly demonstrates the strategic vision of our State on early human development.

Universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5 is truly a necessary step, a turning point change with the orientation of developing human resource investment right from the foundation stage.

When the State invests in preschool education with clear, specific policies and free of charge for this foundation stage, society will have great benefits in the future for socio-economic development. Because the State's investment in preschool education will narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, preschools in the countryside will also be invested in like in the city from facilities, human resources to care and nurturing regime... which will bring many better benefits to the people.

Many studies have shown that early childhood education contributes significantly to the development of excellent human resources in the future. Therefore, I can imagine that the State's large investment in preschool education is truly a humane policy, aiming at a developed economy in the future that we are setting out.

* Ms. Trieu Tuyet Mai (Deputy Head of Department of Education and Training, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City):

Invest wisely

General education programs have had a policy of exempting tuition fees for students nationwide from the 2026 school year, so universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5 is an important policy to complete and continue our country's human resource development policy.

Therefore, I think that the State's investment of more than 116,300 billion VND in preschool education in the period of 2026 - 2030 is a very correct investment for the comprehensive development of children, demonstrating the connection in implementing the comprehensive human development strategy of the education sector between levels of education.

* Mr. Khuu Manh Hung (Head of Education and Training Department, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City):

Early human resource development

If the 116,300 billion VND is invested in preschool education, this is very exciting news for the people. These positive signals can also affect the development of the young population in Vietnam. Because right from preschool, families are supported a lot by the State in taking good care of and raising children.

The State's large investment in preschool education will improve the quality of child care and education; the learning environment for children from the plains to the highlands and remote areas will be improved in quality (facilities, teaching equipment, and children's toys will be equipped in a modern and integrated direction)...

The changes in child care and nurturing from the early years of life spreading to every village and family will be a huge step forward for our country to develop more and more. I think this is a very good investment in developing human resources of society to compete with other countries in the future.

Investing in preschool education: no time soon

A physical activity class at a kindergarten in Hanoi - Photo: VINH HA

Many studies show that the "golden age" of human beings is from 0-6 years old. In many countries, preschool education is highly valued, reflected in investment in the school network, the treatment of teachers, and preferential policies for children... However, in Vietnam, the position of preschool education is lower than other levels of education, in terms of both investment priority and awareness.

Since 2010, the whole country has completed universal preschool education for 5-year-olds, but it will not be until the 2024-2025 school year that 5-year-old preschool children will be exempted from tuition fees, while this policy has been applied to primary school for a long time. And up to now, at the preschool level, only 5-year-old children enjoy some preferential policies, including priority admission to public preschools.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, currently only over 32% of children of preschool age are attending school. Nationwide, there are still over 300,000 children aged 3-4 who have not been to school. There are still thousands of temporary or borrowed classrooms, and nearly 50% of preschool classes are not equipped with the minimum teaching equipment.

Compared to the goal of universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5 by 2030, the country still lacks nearly 50,000 preschool teachers. It is worth noting that over 40% of children in disadvantaged areas still do not have access to preschool education.

Currently in many localities, private preschools are "carrying" a significant number of preschool-age children lacking places to study in public schools, but these children are not treated equally as children in the public system.

Insecurity and lax quality management also occur frequently in non-public child care groups. The policy for preschool teachers is unstable while the pressure of the working environment at this level is very high, leading to difficulty in solving the problem of teacher shortage.

In the wave of teachers quitting their jobs, mainly preschool teachers. Without strong enough policy impact, the "gaps" in preschool education will grow larger, leading to instability in basic education, creating momentum for education at higher levels.

The Ministry of Education and Training has been assigned to submit to the National Assembly a "resolution on piloting universal preschool education for 3- and 4-year-old preschool children in a number of provinces and cities". However, before that, Resolution 42-NQ/TW dated November 24, 2023 of the 13th Party Central Committee set a target of "completing universal preschool education for preschool children aged 3-5" by 2030.

The leader of the Ministry of Education and Training said that if the pilot decree is submitted to the National Assembly for approval, other than the 14 provinces that are piloting, other localities will not have the legal basis to develop programs and plans to implement universal preschool education for preschool children as required by Resolution 42.

That is why the Ministry of Education and Training proposed a resolution as a legal corridor for all localities to widely implement universal preschool education. The time to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval is in the October 2025 session.

In the Government's submission to the National Assembly's draft resolution on universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5, it is also stated that the current Law on Education only stipulates universalizing preschool education for children aged 5, so to implement universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5, it is necessary to amend and supplement the Law on Education. This will require time for comprehensive assessment with many complicated contents, while completing universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5 is an urgent matter that requires a legal corridor.

Good news for low income earners

"My husband and I are both workers with low salaries, but because we couldn't get a place for our child to study in a public kindergarten, we had to send him to a private class, with the cost including meals being nearly 3.5 million VND/month.

The facilities in private schools are a little better than public schools, but the high cost is not suitable for people with incomes like ours. So we really hope that the government will have policies so that public schools have enough places for children. I believe this is also the desire of many low-income parents."

Ms. Ha Thu Hong

(Parents must send their children to private preschools in Ha Dong district, Hanoi)

Mountain teachers face many difficulties

In the northern mountainous provinces, many teachers shared about the difficulties of lacking public housing when being assigned to remote locations, and the difficulties of having to teach both preschool and primary schools. They wish to have specific policies such as housing rental support if there is no public housing, support for training to improve qualifications, travel expenses, etc.

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VINH HA - THANH CHUNG - MY DUNG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tin-vui-cho-cac-gia-dinh-tre-dau-tu-4-5-ti-usd-cho-giao-duc-mam-non-20250422083931877.htm