Though HCM City leads the country in privatising education, itneeds to do much to speed up the process at all levels of education andimprove quality, officials have said.
A Governmentresolution on pre-school education targets having 80 percent of nurseryschools for children aged below three and 70 percent of kindergartensfor children aged up to five privately owned by the end of this year.
The city has only crossed the halfway mark yet but is already facing problems in monitoring their quality.
However, Tran Thi Ngoc Anh, head of the People's Council's Culture andSocial Affairs Division, said around 50 percent was a reasonable numberin the current situation. If this rate increased now, facilities andteaching staff would fall below required standards, affecting theschools' quality, she told Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon)newspaper without offering an explanation.
Nguyen Thi KimThanh, head of the city Department of Education and Training'sPre-school Education Division, said it was a contradiction that privatepre-education schools have helped reduce the overload at public schoolsbut have got no tax breaks.
At the high school level, thequality of students admitted to private schools remains a concern in theabsence of entrance exams unlike at public schools.
Thefees at private schools, many times higher than at public schools, arethe biggest obstacle to privatising education since poor students canhardly afford them.
The process of privatisation has,however, widened the choice of schools for children from high-incomefamilies. Many quality private schools at all levels have been set up,some even of international standards, but they are affordable only forwealthy children.
Experts say privatising education hasnot helped reduce poor students' expenses for studies as expected thoughthe city has exempted fees for them since tuition fees account for onlya small part of the costs. They also call on authorities to review theworking of self-financing public schools since they collect higher feesthan other public schools./.
A Governmentresolution on pre-school education targets having 80 percent of nurseryschools for children aged below three and 70 percent of kindergartensfor children aged up to five privately owned by the end of this year.
The city has only crossed the halfway mark yet but is already facing problems in monitoring their quality.
However, Tran Thi Ngoc Anh, head of the People's Council's Culture andSocial Affairs Division, said around 50 percent was a reasonable numberin the current situation. If this rate increased now, facilities andteaching staff would fall below required standards, affecting theschools' quality, she told Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon)newspaper without offering an explanation.
Nguyen Thi KimThanh, head of the city Department of Education and Training'sPre-school Education Division, said it was a contradiction that privatepre-education schools have helped reduce the overload at public schoolsbut have got no tax breaks.
At the high school level, thequality of students admitted to private schools remains a concern in theabsence of entrance exams unlike at public schools.
Thefees at private schools, many times higher than at public schools, arethe biggest obstacle to privatising education since poor students canhardly afford them.
The process of privatisation has,however, widened the choice of schools for children from high-incomefamilies. Many quality private schools at all levels have been set up,some even of international standards, but they are affordable only forwealthy children.
Experts say privatising education hasnot helped reduce poor students' expenses for studies as expected thoughthe city has exempted fees for them since tuition fees account for onlya small part of the costs. They also call on authorities to review theworking of self-financing public schools since they collect higher feesthan other public schools./.
