2. OTHER ECCE PROGRAMS
(Generally preceding ISCED 0 programs)
2.1. National definition of other ECCE programs:
Not available
2.2. Normative age group(s) covered by other ECCE programs:
Not available
2.3. Estimate number of children covered by other ECCE programs:
Not available
B. BACKGROUND INFORMATION CONCERNING ECCE PROGRAMS
(INCLUDING ISCED 0)
3.1. Legislation concerning ECCE:
The Education Law 2005 defines early childhood education as a part of the national
educational system. The objectives of early childhood education are to help children
develop physically, emotionally, intellectually and aesthetically, in order to shape the
initial elements of personality as well as to prepare children for the first grade (of
primary education). However, early childhood education is not compulsory nor a prerequisite
for entry into primary school. Rather, the government tries to create demand
among parents and promotes children’s participation in early childhood education
through the parent education programmes and the use of various media for raising
awareness.
3.2. Official body/bodies in charge of supervision or coordination:
In principle, the Ministry of Health is responsible for monitoring the quality of health
care in childcare centres, but there is no apparent co-ordination between the district
level education office and their colleagues in the health ministry. At the village level,
it is clear that the public health system is well utilized, and families assume
responsibility for bringing their children to health centres.
The Early Childhood Education Department of the MoET was established in
1991 and is now responsible for day-care centres and kindergarten schools. The ECE
Unit at the national level is responsible for overall supervision of these childcare and
education programmes (ECCE), and there is also an ECE Unit at the provincial and
district levels under the provincial service and district department for education and
training.
MOET is responsible for the development of programming strategies,
guidelines and standards for ECE. The Early Childhood Education Department at the
Ministry is the leading agency at the central level. The ECE Department shares
responsibility for national coordination of ECCE with the Ministry of Health, the
Committee for Population, Family and Children and the Viet Nam Women’s Union.
They are responsible for both state and non-state ECE programmes. The four central
level agencies divided responsibilities for the management of ECCE as follows: 1) the
MoET is responsible for developing programmes and standards, supervision,
monitoring of the implementation of Early Childhood Care and Education
programmes and for promoting parent education on ECCE; 2) the Ministry of Health
attends to the health and nutrition components including immunization for all children
under five, disease prevention, nutrition education, food supplementation and other
interventions to reduce malnutrition; 3) the Committee for Population, Family and
Children is responsible for overall child-focused policy which, of course, includes
national early childhood development policy; and 4) the Viet Nam Women’s Union is
responsible for parent education to enhance their knowledge of parenting practices.
Together with the MoET, they active advocate for promoting the importance of
children’s participation in ECCE programmes among parents. They also have a
special focus on children under 3 years who are presently underserved or in
programmes of poor quality compared to 3 to 5-year-olds.
3.3. Other entities involved in the provision (e.g. municipalities, local
governments) and main types of providers (e.g. public, private, mixed,
community-based, etc.):
According to official Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) documents, there
are basically three kinds of ECCE programmes through which children under six
years of age are provided with the appropriate early learning experiences, or through
which parents are supported as caregivers. These are: 1) childcare or day-care centres,
crèches and nurseries for infants up to three years; 2) kindergartens; 3) parent
education programmes. Kindergartens have always been defined in terms of both
education and childcare while the day-care programme is also expected to provide
early learning experiences. This direction has been sustained by the Ministry of
Education and Training’s Early Childhood Education Department and other lead
agencies since they assumed responsibility for coordinating both types of ECCE
services. Thus there are some programme aspects that are common to both in terms of
programming guidelines or standards prescribed by the MoET.
The rapid expansion of non-state service provision for childcare is a
significant development. MoET statistical data reveals that within a four-year period
(from 1994 to 1998) coverage by non-state childcare centres almost doubled from 33
per cent to 62.5 per cent. There are two main types of non-state ECCE programmes: 1)
community-owned and operated crèches and kindergartens usually in rural villages;
and 2) privately-owned crèches and kindergartens, often in urban and advantaged
areas. Some of these community-owned centres may receive subsidies from the
government and the communes, but the vast majority is now entirely communityowned
and supported mainly by parental contributions.
The first type of non-state ECCE programme is the community-owned crèches
or kindergarten, established by village residents and local leaders, in rural villages
where there were no state-run programmes. The MoET defines these communityowned
centres as those established, invested for infrastructure, covered financially for
operating costs by local community. Parents and communes provide all financial and
material resources needed to establish the crèches or kindergarten schools; they do not
receive funding from central government. The MoET ECE Department provides
guidelines while the Provincial and District Education Departments monitor the
implementation of their programmes.
The second type of childcare is provided by entrepreneurial individuals or
organizations from the private sector who set up home-based centres as well as preschools
in big cities or in urban areas. These private centres are established, invested
for infrastructure, covered financially for operating costs by social organizations,
social-professional organizations, economic organizations, or individuals with nonstate
budget funding. They cater to the children of more affluent families and rely
mainly on the fees paid by parents for their operations. They account for only 7.9 per
cent of service provision, which is understandable given the economic situation of
many Vietnamese families. Private service providers are required by the MoET to
register, apply for their licence and comply with the prescribed guidelines, and their
compliance is monitored by the local authorities. As provided by Education Law,
Chairman of the District People’s Committee has the authority of giving permission
for establishment of community-owned and private centres.
State-run kindergartens account for the largest percentage of children’s ECCE
participation rates, specifically for the four- and five-year-old age groups, and are
quite sufficiently established in most parts of the country, with the exception of
several rural areas, mostly in the south and central areas, as well as in the remote
mountain villages of the north. There are also more non-state ECCE programmes run
by local communities or private individuals in the Northern provinces compared to the
central and southern areas.
3.4. Type of personnel involved:
Not available
3.5. Type of staff training (requirements):
Basically, the number and structure of ECE teachers and management staff can meet
the current requirements of ECE network. In 2004, the country has 146,517 staff of
which 36,522 are crèches teachers and 109,995 are kindergarten teachers and about
23,000 management staff at all levels. Non-formal teachers and staff represent 63.33
per cent, who mainly based in rural areas.
Over two third of ECE teacher and management staff is working in non-public
ECE establishments. Specifically, non-public crèches teachers occupy 73 per cent and
non-public kindergarten teachers 60 per cent. In the mountainous and ethnic minority
areas, there are 7,500 ethnic minority teachers. ECE sector is trying to increase the
number of ethnic minority teachers via organising various forms of short term
teacher-training.
At present, 69.5 per cent of ECE teachers and management staff obtaining
professional standard, meaning that they have attended at least two-year of formal
pre-service ECE programmes or equivalent. 6.2 per cent of them are graduates from
three or four years of ECE formal training programmes. 24.2 per cent of teachers and
management staff are under-standardised or untrained, they are mainly in rural areas.
The majority of teacher and management staff in difficult areas got primary level and
short-term training. They attended nine-month training, even only three to six months,
or have had no pre-service training at all, and are literally learning on the job.
Four national ECE Teacher Training Colleges in three of the major cities,
namely Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang, have Early Childhood Care and
Education Faculties where teachers can enroll in the two- to three-year programmes.
In addition, there are intermediate pre-school teacher training schools in Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh City that offer short courses as well as the two- to three-year
programmes. All provincial teacher training schools offer ECCE training programmes
as well, but at this stage there are evidently very few teachers who are able to enroll in
these training programmes. The rate of expansion due to the increased demand for
ECCE programmes has far outpaced the supply of teachers.
3.6. Recent national policies and reforms:
The seventh national delegation congress of the Party assigned