HCM CITY – HCM City People’s Council held the last working day of its sixth session yesterday, with measures to curb child abuse at child care facilities among the top issues under discussion.

At the morning session, deputies continued questioning director of the city’s Department of Education and Training Lê Hồng Sơn and chairman of the District 12’s People’s Committee Lê Trương Hải Hiếu about recent child abuse in Mầm Xanh Private Kindergarten in District 12.

Deputy Nguyễn Thị Tố Trâm questioned the responsibilities of authorised agencies for repeated child torture cases in the city and the procedures for licensing private child care facilities.

Trâm said many pre-school teachers received degrees after only a few months of study. She suggested that teachers be required to undergo psychological tests, to determine their ability to withstand pressure and their love for children before working.

Deputy Nguyễn Thị Nga said cheap private childcare facilities posed high risk of child torture, but low-income earners such as workers in industrial zones had no other choice. She asked about the city’s policy to build more pre-schools and train pre-school teachers.

The city’s Department of Education and Training director Sơn affirmed that the department had fulfilled its responsibilities in shutting illegal or violating childcare facilities. Ward/commune’s authorities are responsible for managing private kindergartens in their localities, he said.

Currently, there are 1,845 private childcare groups with between 8-30 children in each.

In reply to questions on child abuse in Mầm Xanh Private Kindergarten, chairman of District 12’s People’s Committee Hiếu said all information on local childcare groups had been given to parents for quality assessment. The district has proposed the city install cameras in all schools.

The city plans to loan VNĐ4.3 trillion ($629 million) to build 81 schools to meet the high demand for facilities. Currently, public pre-schools only house 45 per cent of total children.

E-commerce tax collection was also discussed. Head of the city’s Taxation Department Trần Ngọc Tâm admitted that it was difficult to collect tax from foreign websites, especially Facebook.

HCM City had more than 13,760 unregistered Facebook accounts that performed transactions but did not pay tax.

Tâm suggested that who made transactions of more than VNĐ 5 million ($220) should be required to pay via card instead of in cash to avoid losses. 

Also yesterday, the fifth session of the 15^th Hà Nội People’s Council focused on pavement management and urban security in the city.

Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung said the paving of sidewalks had been conducted carelessly recently. The city has asked inspectors to supervise the work and fine violators.

During Tuesday’s session, Hà Nội has approved a master plan to turn Hoà Lạc Urban Area into a super satellite city by 2030 in two districts of Thạch Thất and Quốc Oai and Sơn Tây Town. The plan calls for the area to become a high-tech scientific research centre, a hub of universities and vocational colleges and a medical centre for treatment and nursing.

The committee also planned to carry out its largest payroll reduction, cutting the total number of staff and officers at ministries, localities and Government agencies on the State payroll by 8,700. This year’s figure was 1,260.

The proposal was submitted to the city People’s Council for approval. – VNS