More than 200 educational experts from Japan and Vietnam gathered at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 21 to share experience in preschool education and discuss measures to boost bilateral ties. Vietnam is trying its best to improve quality of preschool education. However, its efforts has not brought about any positive result, a Vietnamese official said, adding that lots of children under five years old find hard to get a seat at state-owned pre-schools. Infrastructure at these schools is also a matter of special concern, he noted. Worse still, series of cases about child maltreatment at private babysitting houses had been reported in recent months, raising controversies on education forums. Moreover, the Ministry of Education and Training's new draft decree on preschool education has raised doubts in the public who said that the plan is unpractical and unfeasible. Vietnam should work out proper measures to develop preschool education, as children are future of the country, Japanese experts said. The Southeast Asia country now has more than three million children aged 0-6 being taken care at 12,000 preschools, of which 50% are private ones. It has targeted to bring education chance to 97% of five-year-old children in the next ten years. (Tien Phong – Pioneer Dec 22 p6)
