Speaking at a recent conference on the national project on nurseries at industrial parks and processing export zones, Vo Thi Hong Anh, the committee’s vice chairwoman and head of the Steering Board of the project in Can Tho, 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, Anh 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 Thot Not 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.
Can Tho 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 10 meet national standards. There are 29 nurseries.
The total number of children taken care of at the kindergartens and nurseries is 3,929.
Local authorities and relevant agencies check the nurseries frequently. Inspections have shown that their classrooms and toilets for children are clean. Investors have spent VND 519 million (US$22,285 ) on upgrading their nurseries’ facilities.
The Department of Education and Training has suggested that the city People’s Council provide assistance of more than 1.2 billion VND 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.
