VietNamNet Bridge – More than 15,200 classrooms for pre-school children across the country failed to meet national standards last year, Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) said in a report on Wednesday.

Children and teacher at Phan Thiet Pre-school in northern Tuyen Quang City. Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Nghia emphasised the need to develop preschools in industrial and processing zones and poor areas as well as to upgrade infrastructure and building more facilities that meet national standards— VNA/VNS Photo Quy Trung

A shortage of resources such as funds or land was blamed for the substandard classrooms, according to the MoET.

In localities, offices of local agencies or organisations are converted into classrooms for children, the ministry revealed in its report.

The MoET reviewed the 2015-2016 academic year and launched tasks for pre-school education in the 2016-2017 period at a conference on Wednesday.

Speaking at the event, MoET Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Nghia said the development of preschools in industrial and processing zones and poor areas was important, while upgrading infrastructure and building more facilities should meet national standards.

She said the complete safety of children in preschools should be ensured, and the quality of their meals and the teachers’ abilities improved.

According to the Department of Early Childhood Education, the country had more than 14,600 pre-schools and 180,000 classes, with HCM City, Ha Noi, Binh Duong and Kien Giang, besides Da Nang and Ba Ria - Vung Tau registering the highest increases in the number of schools.

From 2015 to 2016, 99.8 per cent of five-year-old children attended pre-school, while the rate of schools meeting national standards increased 3.4 per cent.

Technological advances were also being adopted in the care of children.

However, representatives of the Department of Education and Training said there were existing shortcomings, such as the shortage of schools in urban and industrial areas, limited resources for pre-schools in mountainous areas and the low numbers of permanent classrooms.

Only 35 per cent of the existing pre-schools met national standards, which could be attributed to the lack of comprehensive plans for pre-school education in each locality, suitable mechanisms to develop non-public pre-schools and appropriate perks for teachers.

Head of Early Childhood Education Department Nguyen Ba Minh said that ensuring the safety of pre-school children was the most important task.

School managers, teachers and families must keep improving awareness and practices to ensure safe environments for children’s development.

Vice-Director of the northern Vinh Phuc Province’s education and training department Nguyen Duc Trong said the ministry should consider change in regulations and criteria to help more private schools provide services.

VNS