A private nursery in Trà Nóc Industrial Park in Cần Thơ. Source https://giaoducthoidai.vn/

CẦN THƠ — The Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ will issue more preferential policies for investors to set up private nurseries in the city’s industrial parks and processing export zones, according to the city People’s Committee.

Speaking at a recent conference on the national project on nurseries at industrial parks and processing export zones, Võ Thị Hồng Ánh, the committee’s vice chairwoman and head of the Steering Board of the project in Cần Thơ, said that female workers with children ageing 6 months and above have to send their children to nurseries and kindergartens when they resume working after six months of maternity leave.

The nurseries and kindergartens must have professionally trained staff and facilities that ensure safety for children, Ánh said.

Agencies in the city should offer more solutions to attract private investment in safe nurseries and kindergartens to meet female workers’ demands, she added.

Noting that the city plans to establish Singapore Industrial Park in Thốt Nốt District, she said the district should set up health facilities and nurseries or kindergartens to create conditions for workers’ children to be taken care of. This will also attract workers to the IP.

She instructed the city Department of Education and Training to provide more preferential policies to attract private investment to build nurseries in IPs and processing export zones.

The city could give investors priority in tariff exemptions and reductions, assistance for loans, and land lease, she said.

Cần Thơ has four industrial parks and processing export zones with 5,176 workers with children under 36 months old.

The total number of kindergartens in the industrial parks and processing export zones is 10. Six out of the ten meet national standards. There are 29 nurseries. 

The total number of children taken care of at the kindergartens and nurseries is 3,929.

Under the national project which started in 2014, teachers at kindergartens and nurseries are professionally trained further by the Department of Education and Training. The other staff in charge of taking care of children also participate in courses on food safety and hygiene.

All private nurseries have been issued a certificate for injury prevention and safe schools.  

Local authorities and relevant agencies check the nurseries frequently. Inspections have shown that their classrooms and toilets for children are clean. Investors have spent VNĐ519 million (US$22,285) on upgrading their nurseries’ facilities.

The Hậu Giang Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company has built a kindergarten, while the Nam Hải Food Import Export Co. Ltd has used 2,000 square metres to build Hoa Hồng Kindergarten to serve its workers' children.

The Department of Education and Training has suggested that the city People’s Council provide assistance of more than VNĐ1.2 billion ($51,517) to buy teaching aids and toys for children.

The conference’s delegates said the project had helped workers feel more secure about their children's safety. — VNS