VietNamNet Bridge – Young parents complain that they don’t have anyone or any school taking care of the children. A lot of private and household run schools may have to shut down after the child abuse cases were discovered.

Children stay at home, schools shut down

More and more child abuse cases have been exposed to the public recently, raising a big concern among the parents.

Nguyen Thu Thao, a parent in Cau Giay district, who sent the 18-month old child to a private run class near her house, said she has decided to give up her job, stay at home to take care for the child.

“I felt the cold sweat when I watched the video clip where the two babysitters in HCM City beat the kids. I think I’d be better to look after my child,” she explained.

Thuy once worked as an accountant for Tri An Company, for which she received VND4.5 million a month. She had to spend VND2 million on the babysitting service.

Pham Thanh Mai from Bac Ninh province, who lives in a rent room in Hanoi, said she has decided to leave the kid with the grandparents in Bac Ninh. “I feel insecure when sending the kid to private run classes,” she said.

Mai is not alone. A lot of parents, feeling secure about the quality of household run schools, don’t bring their children to the schools any more.

Bui Thi Nga, a teacher of the Huong Duong Private Kindergarten in Hoang Mai district, confirmed that a lot of parents have stopped bringing their children to the school, thus having affected the school’s operation.

Thu Trang, Headmaster of Funny, a kindergarten in Trung Hoa residential quarter, said on An Ninh Thu Do that the number of children has decreased gradually over the last two months.

“Some parents said they would have housemaids take care of the children. Others said they would leave the children with grandparents. The situation has become more serious. There are only 10 children now,” Trang complained.

“The sharp decrease in the number of children has caused a big loss. I think I would help to shut down the school,” she added.

Thuy from MyHouse kindergarten in Tu Liem district said 10 children have stopped going to the school, thus having caused a big loss to her. She fears she has to shut down the school, because she cannot earn enough money to pay the house rent of VND15 million a month and other expenses.

What to do?

However, analysts have warned that the close of private schools would make the problem more serious, because parents would have no one to take care of their children.

A parent also said that she is not too demanding about the teaching quality. She just needs someone to take care of her child and feed him.

With the limited number of state owned schools, Vietnam should think of developing the non-state school network instead of eliminating it.

There are only 11 state owned schools in Tan Phu district in HCM City, while there are 30,000 children who need to go to nursery schools. According to Chung Bich Phuong, Deputy Head of the district’s education sub-department, only private run schools can help satisfy the demand.

There are 40 licensed private schools and 100 household run classes in the district.  

Compiled by C. V