Children need identification to go to school.
On June 27, the Ho Chi Minh City Association for the Protection of Children's Rights held a workshop on Improving the effectiveness of ensuring the implementation of children's rights in the system of groups, classes and charity schools in Ho Chi Minh City.
Representatives of 20 charity classes and schools in the city attended the workshop (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
At the conference, Ms. Mai Thi Ngoc Mai, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Association for the Protection of Children's Rights, said that the city still faces many challenges in ensuring the full basic rights of children, especially children in charity classes, such as: Children having to work early or at risk of working early, lacking identity papers, children being victims of violence and discrimination, etc.
According to Mr. Pham Dinh Nghinh, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Association for the Protection of Children's Rights, through a survey with the Culture and Social Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, the association discovered many problems in protecting children in charity classes.
The most important problem is that many students studying in these classes do not have identification documents, so they do not have transcripts and cannot transfer to official schools...
At Tan Son Nhi charity school, there are currently 12 children who have not yet obtained birth certificates. At Nam Hoa general education class, there are 5 children who do not have birth certificates, 9 children who do not have identification codes. In Binh Trung Dong ward charity class, there are 6 children who do not have birth certificates, 13 children who do not have ID cards...
Making identity papers for these children is extremely complicated because they all have special circumstances. Some have been abandoned by their parents, imprisoned, or separated... Some have no birth certificate and their parents do not have any identity papers...
Mr. Nghinh said: “Identification papers for children at facilities are a matter of special concern because they relate to many of the children’s rights. Without identification papers, transferring children to formal schools or continuing to secondary school is almost impossible.”
In 2024, Ho Chi Minh City issued identification papers for more than 400 children in special circumstances, but in 2025, many new cases continued to arise (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
Dr. Nguyen Minh Nhut, Deputy Head of the Culture and Social Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, said: "Since 2022, we have organized many seminars to find solutions to issue identity papers to children."
After many meetings, six city agencies sat down to develop a process for issuing identification papers to children.
In 2024, the city established records to resolve cases for 443 children. Of these, the city issued identification papers to 426 children. The remaining cases have not been resolved because they have factors related to foreign countries.
According to Mr. Nhut, in new cases, this procedure can be followed. Therefore, he suggested: "The facility owner must coordinate with the child's parents, collect information according to the instructions to work with the local authorities to resolve the child's identification documents."
Schools need legal status to teach children long term
Another major problem that Mr. Pham Dinh Nghinh mentioned is the legality of charity classes and schools.
The 20 charity schools that attended the workshop all said they had no official legal documents. Some received “verbal approval” from the local government andeducation department, while others were given unclear written notices.
Ms. Pham Thi Doan (Ward 25 Universal School) said the school has been operating for 28 years without legal documents.
Thai Van Lung Primary School in Thu Duc has nearly 800 children, operating since 1995 but also has no papers.
Schools reported facing many difficulties due to lack of legal documents (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
Because charity classes and schools do not have legal documents, it leads to a series of problems such as: Students do not have transcripts, cannot go to secondary school after finishing primary school, cannot transfer to official schools to continue studying...
Mr. Pham Dinh Nghinh said: “The State needs to have policies to support facilities to ensure legality. Only then can facilities help students study long-term.”
Dr. Nguyen Minh Nhut also agreed that there is currently a lack of a legal framework for charity classes, so these facilities have not been recognized, and the city's social security policy has not reached this group.
This has led to limited investment in these facilities. Many places consider the role of charity classes to be temporary. The facilities cannot attract good teachers, and the children studying here are unstable.
However, to overcome this legal gap will take a lot of time. Mr. Nhut said that in the coming time, the City People's Council's Social and Cultural Committee will meet with relevant departments to find solutions and procedures to solve this problem, just as it has solved the problem of issuing identification papers to children in special circumstances.
Dr. Nguyen Minh Nhut, Deputy Head of the Culture and Social Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
Mr. Huynh Ngoc Dinh (Lua Viet charity class) worried: “Many children are 14 years old and still do not know their hometown, studying with first graders, they try to go to school to find their own knowledge. Since they have tried so hard, we should also try to create conditions for them to study, to have a career to compete with society.”
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/lop-hoc-tinh-thuong-can-phap-ly-de-day-tre-lau-dai-20250627192510477.htm
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