Public kindergartens have repeatedly denied applications from three- and four-year-olds to reserve places for five-year-olds in order to help Ho Chi Minh City achieve its target of universalising preschool education for the latter.
Preschools reject 3 year olds |
Linh, a mother in Tan Phu District, complains her three-year-old kid was recently rejected by many local public pre-schools which said they had to reserve space for five-year-olds, as there were not enough classes for everyone.
“I had to resign myself to sending him to a private kindergarten instead,” she said.
Linh had to resort to the unwanted alternative because Vietnamese public schools usually offer higher-quality teaching but charge lower tuition than private ones.
The mother says her neighbors’ kids were also turned downed when they applied to the same public schools.
Another mother, Hong Phuong living in Go Vap District, moans that none of the public kindergartens she has lately contacted for her four-year-old gave her a nod.
“They all directed me to private schools after explaining that five-year-olds were their top priority.”
Parents in other districts suffered the same ordeal when public pre-schools refused their kids simply because they are younger than five.
An education official in Tan Phu District explains public kindergartens now prefer five-year-olds over other kids as they are confronted by a space shortage.
Another in Go Vap District says several other schools have to reject students of less than five.
“Seating is the main problem at the moment,” admits Tran Thi Kim Thanh, vice director of the HCMC Department of Education and Training.
The southern city aims to complete universalizing preschool education for five-year-old kids this year.
In Vietnam, preschooling formally starts at three and finishes at five.
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