Govt plans to put a kindergarten in every commune
HA NOI — The education and training sector aims to open kindergartens in the 13 remaining communes without the schools during the 2004-05 school year, said Prof Dr Le Thi Anh Tuyet.
Dr Tuyet, director of the Education and Training Ministry’s Department of Kindergarten Education, spoke at a conference to review the last kindergarten year and to plan for the new academic season.
She said approximately 527,000 students would attend kindergarten this year. The country has 8,190 kindergartens, 4,982 of which are State-owned, 1,880 are partially State-owned, 682 are people’s funded schools, and 700 are private (but infrastructure, like classrooms, is often funded by the State).
Dr Tuyet said since the last school year, the quality of kindergarten education has been improved by the construction of 6736 new classrooms, at a total cost of VND875 billion, with 60 per cent of the total funded by the State. More than 9,000 other classrooms were upgraded. Teaching techniques have also been revised, combining study and playtimes, and also using group study methods.
Nearly 280,000 teachers were trained and projects funded by international aid groups, such as UNICEF and UNESCO, have been well implemented.
Dr Tuyet said progress has also been made in the education of children with disabilities, as more than half of 33,302 handicapped kindergarten-aged children now attend school.
However, by the end of the last school year, only 30 per cent of kindergarten classes reached the national standards for housing, learning tools and facilities, she added. The country still needs about 20,000 kindergarten teachers, and 25 per cent of the current pool need better training, she added.
Dr Tuyet said kindergarten teachers, particularly those from private schools in rural areas, face many financial difficulties, as more than 50 per cent earn a monthly income of only VND200,000.
To address these problems, MoET will co-ordinate with provinces and cities to implement an educational plan at each locality, transferring a number of State-owned schools into semi-private schools, and encouraging the establishment of private schools in developing regions, Dr Tuyet said.
Other plans included the expansion of early education programmes for children with disabilities, said Tuyet. In addition, she said, puppet dances and other performances would be held at schools to help children learn about language and literature. Moral, musical, artistic, and traffic safety classes for children would also be encouraged.
Dr Tuyet said MoET would research and develop ways to teach the Vietnamese language to ethnic minority children. It would also co-ordinate with local relevant agencies to encourage school attendance, while disseminating information on nutrition and child care for ethnic minority families with children under three years, she added. — VNS
