The Government wants to give top priority to the universalization of pre-school education in order to make best preparations for five-year-old children to enter the elementary schools.

The Government chief lately turned on the green light to the Project on Universalizing Pre-school Education for Five-Year-Old Children in the period of 2010-2015.

Underlining responsibilities of the State, society and families for the development of pre-school education, the project sets the overall goal of ensuring that the majority of five-year-old children throughout the country can attend two classes a day for a full school-year.

The move aims at preparing physical, intelligent, mental, aesthetic and linguistic conditions for kids to enter elementary schools.

As planned, the Government will upgrade facilities and improve quality of nursery education; and reduce malnutrition rates. By 2015, 100% of five-year-old children will enroll in the pre-school education program.

Specially, the project will be prioritized in mountainous and remote areas. National-standardized nursery schools will be built in poor districts. And the rates of provinces meeting the criteria of universal pre-school education will be raised from 55% in 2010 to 85% in 2012 and 100% in 2015.

The project will be carried out in two periods of 2010-2012 and 2013-2015 with the total investment of VND 14,660 billion.

Through its four component projects, the project will help build 11,600 classrooms; purchase toys and educational equipment; train teachers, and churn out 86 national-standard pre-schools in 86 disadvantageous and poor districts nationwide.