VietNamNet Bridge – Parents nowadays have to bring their children to two places a day – nursery schools, where they stay from the morning to afternoon, and to household run child-minding classes, where they stay from after-school hours to 7 pm.

Most of the state owned nursery schools ask parents to pick up their children at 4-5 pm every day. Meanwhile, parents only can leave the office at 6-7 pm. Therefore, a lot of parents have to leave the office sooner, even if they still cannot finish their works.

H, a parent in Phu Nhuan district in HCM City, said she hurriedly left the office every afternoon to fetch the child from nursery school. However, despite her great efforts, she always could not arrive in the school at 4 or 5 pm.

H said the teacher asked parents to pick their children no later than 5 pm, saying that she herself also has to leave school to take care for her child.

P, a parent in Tan Phu district, once also complained that she always feels insecure about the daughter who is now a fourth grader. It takes one hour to drive motorbike from district 3, where her office is located, to Tan Phu district. Therefore, it is impossible to fetch children on time as requested by the teacher.

And this is the reason for the satellite baby minding service to boom. The Le Van Tam and Doan Thi Diem Schools in Tan Phu district, for example, have set up their satellites themselves. Meanwhile, hundreds of private run service establishments have also been created.

Pham Trong Ai, the owner of one of the satellite, said his center mostly serves primary school students. After the official school hour, children would be carried to his center in buses, where they have lunches, short snaps. In the afternoon, they would have English lessons, or do home works with the support by the center’s teachers. In late afternoon, the children would be “given back” to their parents.

The children from well off families can use luxury services. They are met and seen off in taxies, take short snaps in the air-conditioned rooms and learn with good teachers.

The owner of such a company in Tan Phu district, which provides the services, said that the demand is very high.

“A lot of parents, whose children go to the schools in Tan Binh district, also want to leave their children with us. However, I have to refuse them because the schools are too far away from our center,” he said.

The outlaws?

The service companies and private service providers have been existing in reality, but they remain the “outlaw,” because they have not been licensed by competent agencies.

Dang Thanh Tuan, Head of the Education Sub-department in Go Vap district, affirmed that while the demand has been increasing rapidly, there still has been no legal framework on the service.

“A lot of private service providers have asked us to grant operation licenses to them. However, the existing legal documents do not stipulate this kind of services,” he said.

It’s necessary to promulgate the documents which stipulate necessary material facilities and pedagogical standards the service providers must have. Besides, it is also necessary to set up clear regulations on the tax rates and tax payment.

An official of the district 9’s education sub-department said a lot of “private satellites” have been set up in the locality. However, they have been operating “quietly,” receiving 10-15 children at maximum.

Tien Phong