Universal preschool education for 3-5 year old children: What is the solution to the problem of human and material resources?

GD&TĐ - To achieve the goal by 2030, 100% of provinces and centrally-run cities will meet the standards of universal preschool education for children aged 3-5,

To achieve the goal of 100% of provinces and centrally-run cities meeting universal preschool education standards for children aged 3-5 by 2030, localities need to ensure the teaching staff and balance mobilized resources.

Standardization of private independent class groups

Da Nang currently has 482 kindergartens, including 296 public schools and 186 non-public schools. Meanwhile, the number of private independent classes is up to 1,562, not including groups with less than 7 children. The distribution of private kindergartens and classes is mainly concentrated in the central area with high population density or around industrial parks - export processing zones.

Faced with this situation, Da Nang has had many programs and policies to support both investment in facilities and professional training for teachers and private independent class leaders to improve the quality of education and child care.

According to Ms. Le Thi Bich Thuan - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Da Nang, in addition to assigning tasks to public kindergartens in the area to support, guide and supervise professional work for private independent classes, non-public teachers are allowed to participate in all professional training courses organized by the industry.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Luong - Head of Hoa Tri Tue Kindergarten Group (Hoa Khanh, Da Nang), said: “Public kindergartens and the district Department of Education and Training (formerly) support us a lot in terms of expertise in education and child management. Teachers and school owners are able to participate in specialized activities, short-term training courses and update new documents...

In addition to professional training, centralized playgrounds for independent preschools are also regularly organized, thereby ensuring fairness in access to education, helping children to be nurtured, cared for, and educated according to the new preschool education program.

In addition, implementing the project "Improving the quality of care and education for children in independent preschools" implemented by Save the Children (SCI) from November 2022 to April 2023 in Da Nang (old), the capacity of teachers at independent preschools in industrial parks is improved; building the capacity of caregivers at independent preschools through parenting programs; strengthening the monitoring and evaluation system of the Department of Education and Training at independent preschools.

Universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5 means increasing non-public preschool education facilities, especially private independent classes; thereby contributing to attracting school-age children to reduce pressure on the public preschool system. Sending children to private independent preschools is the choice of a part of the population because it is suitable for economic conditions, flexible in pick-up hours...

Expressing her opinion, Ms. Dang Thi Cam Tu - Head of Preschool Education Department, Department of Education and Training of Da Nang also said that the remaining issue is to strengthen support, management, and close supervision of the activities of children's groups; coordination of sectors, localities, organizations and parents to ensure safety as well as good care for children.

Since 2023, some localities in Da Nang have recorded rapid growth in the nursery group model and are reviewing the operating conditions of private nursery groups and independent classes based on the regulations in Circular 49/2021 of the Ministry of Education and Training. Accordingly, these localities have a policy of not issuing new licenses to establish groups of less than 7 children, encouraging families to send their children to public and non-public preschools for better and safer care.

Photo illustration INT.

Strengthening public-private partnership

Recruiting teachers is one of the biggest difficulties that both public and private kindergartens have been facing recently. Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu - Head of the Vang Anh Baby kindergarten group (Hoa Khanh, Da Nang), shared: "Most of the children are children of workers, so they are very volatile. Therefore, recruiting teachers is also difficult due to low salaries."

Regarding preschool education, according to Ms. Nguyen Quoc Thu Tram - Principal of Ngoc Lan Kindergarten (Hai Chau, Da Nang), public schools also have to compete with the private school system which is increasingly offering many incentives for teachers, from salaries to working conditions, to attract highly skilled personnel.

“Therefore, the issue of staff needs to be given the first priority when implementing the goal of universalizing preschool education for children aged 3-5. It is necessary to further strengthen policies to attract and retain preschool teachers, helping the staff feel secure in their dedication.”

According to Ms. Thu Tram's analysis, preschool teachers have their own characteristics, so the labor intensity is high. Especially in big cities, the requirements for knowledge, skills and flexibility of teachers are higher, the pressure is high but the income is still low, the working conditions are not guaranteed, which is also the reason why high school students do not choose to study this major.

Not to mention, the situation of preschool teachers quitting the profession or not continuing their career right after graduating from preschool education still occurs. This leads to a local shortage of teachers, not enough teachers to teach in the classroom... which will affect the goal and progress of universalizing education for children aged 3-5.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lich - Vice Chairman of Lien Chieu Ward People's Committee (Da Nang City) said that it is necessary to increase the training quota for preschool teachers at pedagogical schools; create conditions for those with other degrees to be trained in bridging or second degree in preschool education. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the quality of training and fostering preschool teachers in the direction of standardization and modernization, meeting the requirements of educational innovation.

The Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Lien Chieu Ward also suggested that in order to mobilize children to go to school, in addition to expanding the scale of public schools, there should be clear incentive policies to encourage organizations, individuals, and businesses to invest in building kindergartens in the form of socialization. For example, it is necessary to remove obstacles related to land procedures to promote socialization. Currently, many localities have land available for planning to build schools, but there are too many related procedures, making it difficult to attract investors.

According to Mr. Le Trung Chinh - former Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang City, implementing universal preschool education for children from 3 to 5 years old will certainly increase the number of staff for this level. This must be clarified in the staffing quota package of the Education sector when implementing universalization to avoid difficulties in human resources.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/pho-cap-giao-duc-mam-non-cho-tre-3-5-tuoi-loi-giai-nao-cho-bai-toan-nhan-vat-luc-post741549.html